James Tritten, a man’s take on Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers
Real Life Chronicle
When you are done reading all of the historical tomes that purport to tell us what happened, you really don’t know about how real people lived their lives. I’m not sure you can do this in a work of non-fiction and make it readable. Kathleen Rodgers has managed to tell such a story in a very readable manner that will cause you to ponder her eloquent words.
This book is largely about secrets. All families, all people, all organizations have secrets. Do we bury them never to be brought out into the open? Do we tell stories about them using fictional settings and characters? Do we share them with our most trusted confidants or with a total stranger? Can a secret not gnaw at our insides if we don’t allow it to escape?
Johnnie Come Lately is about an everyday woman and her family going through about twenty-eight years of life. There are some flashbacks to earlier times but the story generally occurs from December 1979 – December 2007 in the fictitious town of Portion, Texas. Like Kathleen’s other writing, it is also concerned with death. Death and secrets make for a most interesting read. And having a main character Johnnie named for dead Uncle Johnny. With a cover depicting a dock.
Letting go and death are also related and a major theme of the book. Johnnie battles internal demons that cause physical actions difficult to understand by many. This book will help readers understand what might drive someone to various forms of self-destructive behavior. People in real life make mistakes. Characters in Johnnie Come Lately make mistakes and then we watch them deal with the consequences. We explore the cycles of life in this well-written novel and plumb the depths of the value of second chances. And yes, bad things happen to good people and “…sometimes there are worse things than death.”
I like the ending very much. Not everything is wrapped up in a neat denouement – I think because the author knows we rarely settle all our problems in any single slice of life. We have to imagine what will happen to a few characters.
Kathleen’s writing, as usual, is very realistic. Her settings totally believable. Her author’s voice is authentic and soft. Johnnie Come Lately is highly recommended.
— Jim Tritten, Ph.D., wrote during a 44-year career with the military including while serving as a carrier-based naval aviator. He holds advanced degrees from USC and formerly served as a faculty member and department chair at the Naval Postgraduate School. He has published five books and hundreds of chapters, articles, and technical reports. A frequent speaker at many conferences, Jim’s work has been translated into four languages, and he has won 13 national writing awards.