Marcia Butler’s debut novel, Pickle’s Progress, is a fierce, mordant New York story about the twisted path to love. Over the course of five weeks, identical twin brothers, one wife, a dog, and a bereaved young woman collide against each other to hilarious and sometimes horrifying effect. Everything is questioned and tested as they jockey for position and try to maintain the status quo. Love is … the poison, the antidote, the devil and, ultimately, the hero.
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Pickle is a cop in New York City with an identical twin who is a boozy architect who is married to another boozy architect. They don’t really like each other and honestly, I didn’t care for them either in the beginning. They are self absorbed, self involved, and above all, damaged.
One night on the George Washington Bridge, the boozy architect and his wife smash their car into a guardrail when they encounter a young woman standing in the roadway. She is calling out to her boyfriend who has jumped off the bridge. This incident makes for a strange connection between the characters.
The story is well written with twists and turns that goes through the evolving or devolving relationships. Each of the characters is damaged by something in their past.
I have never read a book where I didn’t like at least one of the characters. Initially off-putting, they drew me in and held me to the end.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #Centralpublishing for approving my request. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.
Pickles Progress by Marcia Butler a four-star read that will pickle you. This could have been a five-star read if it kept going the way it started, but sadly it drifted off and foundered for the second half, I nearly gave it a three-star, but the first half pushed it over. Stan and Pickle and their whole family are just crazy, so crazy that it almost comes back to normal. If you like your fiction over the top with a side of crazy then you need this story in your life, its crazy and passionate and crazy again, but if you stick with it hopefully you will enjoy it.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “Pickles’s Progress” by Marcia Butler, Central Avenue Publishing, April 9, 2019
Marcia Butler, Author of “Pickle’s Progress” has written an unusual, unique perspective about life and love. The Genres of “Pickle’s Progress” are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Dry Wit, and some Satire. The story takes place mostly in the New York and surrounding areas. The author describes the four characters as complicated, complex, unlikable at times, dysfunctional, quirky, and strange. My favorite character is the dog.(the fifth character if that counts)
The characters are two identical twin brothers, Pickles and Stan and Stan’s wife and a young woman who has had a tragic loss. Stan and his wife are living in their part of a Brownstone house, that they purchased with Pickles. The grieving woman is living in Stan’s finished basement. Pickles want to have his part of the house finished so he can move in. The interaction between all of the characters is almost like a game of chess in certain ways. There are betrayals, unpredictable actions, and a twisted plot.
The ending is a big surprise! I appreciate that Marcia Butler has written a thought-provoking unique story about love and life . I would recommend this book for those readers who enjoy an unusual novel that leaves you thinking.
Not the usual type of book I read. I really didn’t like any of the characters. But I enjoyed the novel and found it very intriguing . It delved into topics which I am usually don’t care to read about.