JulieW8

Religion. Money. Politics. Sex.

What more do you need in a book?

First, a word (or more) about traditional publishing v. self publishing

The world of traditional publishing is changing. This is the kind of book you wouldn’t have seen on book shelves if it hadn’t. In fact, as I followed the author in her quest for publication and while I was reading The Proviso, I was wondering if authors like Clavell and Michener (and possibly McCullough) would have found a publisher in today’s publishing environment, not to mention the busy lives and shorter attention spans of contemporary readers. You don’t see many books this length at the bookstore any more. Is it wordy? Yes. Could it have been cut down in size? Yes. Is it the polished, slick writing that we’re used to seeing when we buy a book? Almost, but not quite (that wordy thing). Is that a bad thing? In my opinion, no.

In my opinion, we’ve been fed what the publishers think we want to read. And let’s face it - we all know they get many, many submissions and they can’t possibly read all of them or publish all of them. We also know that many of our favorite authors were rejected many, many times before finally getting published. The fact is that the business of printing and distributing and selling books is cumbersome and expensive and everyone in that food chain has to make money. It’s understandable. They can’t and don’t take a lot of chances with first-time authors. But what it means is that we, the readers, miss a lot of good stories.

The best place to take a chance on a new author - or one you just haven’t read before - is at the used book store (or Amazon). However, even those choices become limited. The books in the used book store represent the books off the new bookstore shelves. The books on the new bookstore shelves represent what the publishers think we want to read. Vicious cycle, right? I have a difficult time finding unknown authors at both those places, too.

Self publishing used to be (and in some circles still is, I supposed) a death knell for an aspiring author. People need to get over that - this is the digital age, folks. It’s very similar to what’s happening in the music industry. Same story - music execs filter what they think will sell then promote the hell out of it until it does and if it doesn’t the artist gets dropped faster than a whore’s drawers. Now, it’s opening doors for some of those really good authors and stories that somehow just don’t make it past the publisher’s slush pile.

That’s not to say that there’s going to be an influx of great self-published books. Some of them are going to be really lousy because it’s easier/cheaper to self publish a digital book. There are now web sites that will produce a print copy or 10 or 100. Readers are going to have to rely on reviews and I think favorite author will become even more significant in digital age publications - people will read the authors they have found they can trust. That said, I’ve read some lousy stories written by well-known authors, which seem to have been forgiven not only by the readers but by the publishers. I guess everyone gets their bad day.

This little treatise on the publishing world is to prepare you for the fact that what you’re reading when you read The Proviso probably doesn’t read quite like what you’re used to reading in traditional print publications, but in my opinion that’s not a bad thing. The reason is contained in the review to follow.

The Book (Print)

I have a print copy of the book and the first thing you notice is it’s size. It’s huge. The second thing you notice is that it’s absolutely gorgeous. The cover art is extraordinary, in my opinion. If you walked into a bookstore and this was on the table inside the door, you wouldn’t be able to resist walking over and running your hand over the cover before you flip it over to see the back (also beautiful artwork). When you lay it open, the inside is as gorgeous and rich as the cover and there are actual chapter titles, something you rarely see any more in a book.

The print copy is expensive. I know the author believes in e-books and of course the e-book version is much more affordable. However, for those of us who like the tangible feel of a print book, this one is worth it (and would make an excellent gift for any reader on your list).

The Proviso: Review

This books moves at a slower pace than I’m used to but it’s been a long time since I picked up and read a lengthy, layered story that delves into the details of the characters. (Again, that traditional publishing thing.) As I read it and sometimes got annoyed with the slow pace, I remembered that I loved Shogun - and if you’ve read Shogun you know how involved that story is! And this story takes the time to acquaint you with the characters.

There are some authors I read more for the characters than the stories they write. At this point, I’m going to say Jovan is shaping up to be one of those. Don’t get me wrong - I liked the story. But I love the characters. I would so be on board to read a book about Sebastian raiding a company, especially if there was a murder mystery involved. Oh hell - I’d like a book about Sebastian breaking legs during his younger years as a loan shark. I also salivate a bit contemplating the possibilities of a Grisham-like novel about Knox’s trial of the serial killer, Parley - and what happens after.

The Proviso is a competent storytelling that leaves you wanting more of these characters and their stories and the stories of the other characters who populate the book. You will laugh. You will cry. I’m not giving away the ending. You may start reading and not be able to put the book down. Or, if you read like I do, you will meander through the first two-thirds and then not be able to put it down until you finish the last one-third.

Jovan does a really good job of interweaving the stories of the 3 main characters and keeping the story line timely and interesting while doing it. I was willing to suspend my problems with parts of the story line because overall I enjoyed it and - as stated above - I love the characters. If a plot based on a proviso stating an heir-apparent must do this thing or that thing in order to inherit is a contrivance, it’s an acceptable one in exchange for getting to know these characters. Because this story isn’t about the people who set the proviso in motion, we may never know their motives - and it really isn’t all that important because in my opinion this is a character-driven story. Any story about religion, money, politics and sex is about entanglements, complications, lies, deceit, manipulation, good and evil - and this The Proviso delivers in spades while delving into the human side of the main characters. My favorite part of the cover says what this story is really about: “…embroiled as they are in their war, the last thing they expect to find on the battlefield is love.”

And yeah, there’s sex. Don’t read the book if you have a problem with graphic sex. It’s not like the author is trying to sneak it in there - it says right there on the cover there’s sex. What I found interesting is that sex almost becomes its own character in this book, and the different ways its used to express the characters. This is something I haven’t seen before in books that include sex - it was there just because people expect it to be (romance) or to titillate readers and draw a certain demographic. In The Proviso it’s there because sex is part of being human and part of what makes these characters tick.

Religion. This is the first book I’ve ever read that included Mormon religion, culture and characters that I felt were real. There are believers and non-believers, active and lapsed. There is some discussion about the Mormon religion and (gasp!) not a word about polygamy! Yeah, over a hundred years after the LDS church stopped officially practicing polygamy, finally someone writes a story with Mormon life and culture and doesn’t include polygamy. Imagine that. I wouldn’t classify this as “Mormon literature” by any stretch, however, so don’t let the inclusion of religion deter you from reading the book - or alternatively, don’t buy the book thinking this book is about Mormons. The author happens to be Mormon, many of the characters happen to be Mormon - there’s nothing more to it than that. The Proviso is most definitely not about Mormonism.

Bottom line? Big thumbs up for this first novel by new author Moriah Jovan.