Every story begins with a writer, but it finds its meaning in the people who read it.
The reflections shared here come from readers who have spent time in the pages of Robert Lee Dugan III’s work, from the hills and small towns of Appalachia to the unforgettable characters who call them home. Their words offer a glimpse into the journeys, emotions, and conversations these stories have inspired.
Whether you’ve followed Robert’s work from the beginning or are discovering it for the first time, these reader responses provide a window into the experiences waiting within the pages.
Bob Dugan’s book could be the diary of many Berkeley Springs’ young people: partying in the McDonald’s parking lot. Dare-devil driving down the dual highway. Even some of the specific events ring a bell, such as the hostage-taking at the Hancock motel sone years ago. Those of you not from our neck of the woods will surely recognize similar experiences from their high school days.
But it’s not all a happy memory story, as he describes how a group of friends parties there way through adolescence, then grows apart as some of them turn to pills, then heroin, or just descend into a spiral of bad jobs, bad choices. Our narrator is the lucky one that makes it through, relatively unscathed to first graduate from college, and then return to his hometown to be a teacher.
Those of us from Berkeley Springs will recognize some of the characters, I’m sure. But you’ll also recognize the bigger picture of how generations of poverty and addiction lead to despair.
I read this book as a suggestion from a friend. It’s not my usual, not mainstream, maybe abnormal for most but golly it’s REAL. It’s RAW. It’s SIMPLE. It’s true… Maybe not EXACTLY every word maybe some stories are stretched, and maybe they aren’t…
But for the reader you immediately have a soft spot for the quiet intellectual kid who just needs a friend and you follow those friendships into his adulthood. But the STORY is more than that. The story is the simple, plain, honest truth of how someone you know, love, and deeply care about can make choices which greatly impact their life all without you realizing it, but in hindsight you accept that you were blind to it-and maybe you know, deep down, that blindness is or was by choice?
I could have easily read this book in 1-2 sittings but stretched it out from whatever date I posted my last review (about a week)… I found myself thinking about the boys throughout the day and wondering what adventure they were getting into next. Tonight I finally hit the stride of “just one more chapter” and with tears in my eyes in the last few chapters I didn’t care what the clock said – 10:15 is over an hour past bedtime, but I have no regrets.
TW: the real, raw, and simple of this book directly faces and comments on the use of substances at various ages and deals very bluntly with the aftermath of those choices, but if you’re in a space to read a story that confronts the opioid epidemic in a real world retelling, this one is for you. And I cannot recommend it highly enough.
This is such a good book. The story telling was written really well, and although the humor isn’t for everyone, it was much appreciated by me. A roller coaster of emotions. Definitely recommend.
