Valentine

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Wetmore

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Jenna Lamia

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club pick!

Written with the haunting emotional power of Elizabeth Strout and Barbara Kingsolver, an astonishing debut novel that explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s.

Mercy is hard in a place like this....

It’s February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town’s men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow.

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, 14-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field - an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences.

Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class, and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the listener’s heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women’s strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive.

©2020 Elizabeth Wetmore (P)2020 HarperAudio

Pretty good

I liked this book for the most part and the narrator did a good job however I was disappointed that the narrator didn’t research how to pronounce the places in west Texas. Pecos is NOT pronounced
pee-cose. It also seems to leave a lot of unanswered questions at the end. Maybe a sequel?

Pronounciation

Loved the story-I grew up in wet Texas and the fell was right. Beautifully written. The narrators and producers should educate themselves on Texas and Spanish proper names and local lingo and how to pronounce them...detracts from the story.

Love the book but the audio is laughable!

West Texas and East Texas are totally different countries. This was read as though the story were in Alabama. It drastically takes away from the story. Don’t make the accent up.

The ending is meh

I really struggled with what to write in this review and how many stars to give this book.

Because I’m not from the part of the US where this story takes place I’m not going to talk about the accent/pronunciation of any of the words. I’m going to stick to the story itself.

For a debut novel this book has very detailed descriptions of places and the characters. The subject of this book, while it’s set in 1976 is still very timely in 2020. And the narrators brought all the characters to life sometimes in very explosive ways.

My problem with the book is the ending. I felt no sense of satisfaction for really any of the main characters, and there are many in this story. I definitely would’ve like to see a different outcome for certain characters. While I appreciate what the author tried to do with this book it’s a near miss for me.

very descriptive

enjoyed
listening to it, beautiful writing, would like to read more books by this author. overall, really liked it
I give it 5 stars


5 stars

A great read

The author of this book is the daughter of friends of ours in our Texas winter home.
Hearing so many good reviews and seeing Elizabeth on GMA, I downloaded it. I highly recommend this book. Being familiar with south Texas, it was easy to relate to it’s surroundings. The narrators were great, which I appreciate. A bad narrator can ruin a good book.
Loved the story and the characters of which made this book so interesting.

Compelling story & characters rang true.

But Narrator mispronounced significant words. It's"Paycos," not "Peecos". Jarring to a native Texan ear. Major flaw.

Whelp

Wooooow, personally I’m going to need a long therapy session after this. But WOW as a victim of sexual violence this book felt so relatable. Maybe not for everyone but I definitely needed this read.

Classic tale of the struggles women endure

Heart-wrenching and dynamic, the author offers a realistic and compelling tale as old as time.

Waiting for the next Wetmore novel

This was a solid 5 stars until the last chapter. I loved Wetmore’s storyline, characters, perspective and descriptions. I got lost in her rugged landscapes which perfectly mirrored each character’s emotions. From hope’s eternal green to sorrow’s bottomless browns, there was no doubt with each woman’s hidden feelings. Also there were too many dropped plot points I wanted cleared up (maybe a debut flaw and will be fixed in futures novels).

Although I have heard complaints to the number of narrating characters, I appreciated the variety of age, insider v outsider and bystander v victim. It was an accurate portrayal to a violent crime. Where Wetmore went wrong was to bring Glory’s uncle’s perspective into the limelight. For me it defeated the purpose to these strong female narrators, to hear the male list his family history. It slowed the ending and diverted from this strong feminist novel. For that and holes in plot, I give it 4 instead of 5.

Beautifully written and I can’t wait to read Elizabeth Wetmore’s next novel as I think she will get even better.