{"id":1367,"date":"2018-12-31T16:54:01","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1367"},"modified":"2018-12-31T16:54:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T16:54:01","slug":"waldo-old-buildings-in-north-texas_070118","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=1367","title":{"rendered":"Waldo, Old Buildings in North Texas_070118"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/span><\/p>\n

Jen Waldo<\/span> has lived in Holland, Egypt, the UK, Scotland, Kuwait and Singapore, but now lives in her home Texas, where her novels are set.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She first began writing twenty five years ago and shortly afterwards she had a story picked up by The European<\/span> and was shortlisted in a competition by Traveler.<\/span> Her novel Disappearing Otis<\/span> won an honorable mention in the Indie Book Awards.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 For Arcadia Books, Jen has written Old Buildings in North Texas and \u2014 to come \u2014 her second novel, Why Stuff Matters.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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CONTEMPORARY FICTION<\/p>\n

Jen Waldo<\/span><\/p>\n

Old Buildings in North Texas<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Arcadia Books Ltd. (London)<\/p>\n

Paperback, 978-1-9113-5017-0 (also available in hardcover, as an e-book, an audio book, and on Audible), 215 pgs., $15.95<\/p>\n

May 3, 2018<\/p>\n

Olivia has returned to Caprock, a small fictional town in the Texas Panhandle.<\/span> \u201cBefore they\u2019d let me out of rehab someone had to agree to act as my legal custodian,\u201d she explains, which is why thirty-two-year-old Olivia is living with her mother who, again, controls Olivia\u2019s life from finances to laundry. \u201cOne little cocaine-induced heart attack and it\u2019s back to my childhood to start over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even better, Olivia\u2019s court-ordered therapy is conducted by a former friend with whom she shared AP English classes in high school. Ouch. Olivia, who has an advanced journalism degree from Columbia, is also required by the court to hold down a job, but the only job she can find is behind the counter of a mall jewelry store which is owned by a friend of her mother\u2019s. Olivia is in debt up to her nose in legal bills, medical bills, her Neiman\u2019s card, and money she borrowed from friends to pay the rent and her car note since her salary went up that nose.<\/p>\n

Olivia\u2019s mother calls her every twenty minutes to confirm that her wayward daughter is where she\u2019s supposed to be, which is either at home, at work, at her therapist\u2019s office, at her cardiologist\u2019s office, at meetings with her sponsor, or at meetings with her parole officer. Olivia, whose doctor has replaced cocaine with Xanax and Propranolol\u2014both of which leave her detached and exhausted\u2014is bored out of her skull so her therapist suggests she develop a hobby. While surfing the net for inspiration, Olivia discovers urbexing, urban exploration, which sounds a lot like trespassing. For her first expedition, Oliva chooses a long-abandoned mansion and takes a Chatty Cathy doll with her as a souvenir when she leaves. When she discovers how much that doll is worth to collectors, Olivia decides this new hobby could be lucrative enough to launch her into a new life, again independent and free.<\/p>\n

Old Buildings in North Texas<\/span> is the latest novel from Jen Waldo<\/span> of Marble Falls, Texas. Waldo has created an original concept, entertaining until the end, where she eschews the expected conclusion. Fast-paced and flowing smoothly, these 215 pages pack plot twists aplenty. There\u2019s a lot going on in Old Buildings in North Texas<\/span> and it works because Waldo\u2019s style is an efficient, evocative economy of words, her characters fleshed-out just enough to intrigue. Olivia\u2019s first-person narration is infused with sardonic humor (her heart now beats \u201ca larcenous rhythm\u201d) and dry wit (\u201caddiction recovery makes me cranky\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cI viewed myself as smarter, more talented, unique, non-traditional,\u201d Olivia admits. \u201cBut these are shallow comparatives; none of them was a bit of help when I stumbled.\u201d Stumbled she did and does, through old buildings\u2014office complex, church, schoolhouse, drive-in theater concession\u2014encountering rattlesnakes, bats, skunks, and other critters in her search for valuables\u2014vintage hardware, Tiffany lamps, gumball machines\u2014others have abandoned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere did my scruples go, and why?\u201d Olivia wonders, but not in depth or often. An adrenaline junkie who overdosed on adrenaline, she\u2019s fast shedding illusions about herself. Olivia knows who she is. And she\u2019s okay with that. So are we.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jen Waldo has lived in Holland, Egypt, the UK, Scotland, Kuwait and Singapore, but now lives in her home Texas, where her novels are set. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 She first began writing twenty five years ago and shortly afterwards she had a story picked up by The European and was shortlisted in a competition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}