“Holy Denver”: A True Literary Treat

I’ll tell you a secret. For me, the problem with most literary works is that they move so slow it seems like nothing ever happens and eventually, I am so bored that I don’t care enough about the characters to finish the story. I guess that’s why I read mostly genre fiction. It’s more fast paced and has real conflict to keep the story moving and the reader interested. Not so, with Holy Denver, by Florence Wetzel.

While Holy Denver does have true literary qualities such as moving at a lacksidaisical pace, the characters are colorful enough to keep me coming back for more. Wetzel makes her settings come alive, allowing the unique atmosphere of Boulder and the old town ambience of down town Denver to become characters in their own right, carrying the story from place to place with graceful, relaxed transitions.

Holy Denver is a tale of self-discovery and yet is the tale of the fall of the publishing industry and some of its more recent rises. I was fortunate to acquire a print copy for review, so for me it was a feel good read, allowing me to slip quietly into a world I’m only too familiar with, having grown up in Golden, right between Denver and Boulder, and forget about the reality of the here and now for a while. (I can remember when what is now the 16th Street Mall that Wentzell writes about was a paved street where all the kids went to cruz their daddies’ cars on Friday and Saturday nights, and I attended the later part of my ninth grade year at school located in the Capital Hill area.) I think I smiled almost the whole way through it. It is introspective and entertaining, and I give Holy Denver four quills.

Kaye Lynne Booth does honest book reviews on Writing to be Read in exchange for ARCs at no charge. Have a book you’d like reviewed? Contact Kaye at kayebooth(at)yahoo(dot)com.