Under Pressure

I'm a David Bowie fan. And I loved Queen. Because those iconic voices were stilled too early,  we have to be content with listening to CDs and watching documentaries and movies based on their lives.

What could be better than David Bowie or Freddie Mercury? A song that features both of them, of course.

I was thinking of the song Under Pressure after I finished Leonard Pitts, Jr.'s most recent novel... as I mourned the last line on the last page (because that meant there would be no more of the story to be enthralled by)... as I recommended the book to my daughter and several friends (with spittle spraying from my mouth, I was that enthusiastic).

As I savored the book (alternately binging and fasting) I enjoyed the reminders the author gave me and the lesson he taught me.

For one, this book (like his earlier Freeman) shows the author's double committment. What's more important--craft or plot? Should lyrical lines overshadow the story line? Or, will the reader overlook lines that don't sing across the page if they're served up a compelling plot? Pitts juggles both with amazing dexterity.

This is an epic tale just like Freeman. There are several characters in The Last Thing You Surrender who are true heroes. They're bursting with courage, with bravery in the face of the unimaginable. The story zigzags from United States to Japan and Germany and then back to America. It's told from the perspective of several different characters.

The lesson I learned, as I sat and lapped up Leonard Pitt's lines, was this: Ease up when the pressure gets too high.

The timing is critical. Only a writer with a deft hand knows exactly when the reader is at the edge of their seat. Only a gifted writer can get the reader almost to the point where they can't take any more tension, where they can't tolerate any more sorrow... and then they back up. Pitts does this. He's woven threads of horrific loss and what seem to be insurmountable odds into the tapestry of this novel's journey until the reader reaches the edge of a cliff. There seems to be no other choice: leap into the abyss of what must be incredible sadness...

... But with Pitts, there is another choice. He eases back, switches to another character's storyline for a while, so the reader gets a bit of respite.

Do you enjoy historical novels? This one immerses you into battle... into the racially divisive South... onto a Japanese POW camp... Do you enjoy a tale of sorrow and (some) healing? The Last Thing You Surrender has it. As a writer, would you appreciate a lesson on how to handle tension in a novel?

Read the latest from Leonard Pitts, Jr. You won't regret it.

While Sioux has not surrendered hope for one last snow day (hey! She's a teacher), she also hopes you pick up a copy of The Last Thing You Surrender. In her spare time she freelances, keeps her fingers crossed when it comes to her recently-completed manuscript, rescues dogs and reads. If you'd like to read more of Sioux's stuff, head over to her blog.