If you choose to read this book start with chapter 2. The description of animal abuse in chaper 1 is horrid. The rest of the book was managable, but it is not one I would suggest others read. ( )

Enjoyable read of 17 year old whose family was disfunctional and poor who follows his brother to small town Idaho where he is restless, trying to grow up and figure out life. He meets and falls in love with a women twice his age who awakes more than the sexual side of him, but the affair is bittersweet with secrets and complexity. Written somewhat in the style of Norman MacLean and James Lee Burke with an unsettling somewhat dismal view of life. ( )

Within the first two chapters of Finding Caruso I found myself calling Kim Barnes a favorite author. Despite the fact that the first chapter started off raw and violent; as shocking as a bucket of ice cold language, I loved the way she described the landscape, the emotion, the family structure. A mother timid and protective, a father despairing and drunken, brothers bound by love and loyalty. After a tragedy the brothers make their way to Idaho. Music is what keeps them going, but brotherly blood is what saves them.
It's also the bittersweet tale of sibling rivalry. One brother being the older, better looking, the more talented, the one used to getting everything while the other looks on, burning with jealousy, brimming with pride. But, what happens when the tides turn and baby brother gets a stroke of luck, wins out? ( )