Reviews for Houseboating in the Ozarks

The average rating for Houseboating in the Ozarks based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-25 00:00:00 Stephan Graham . This novel is packed with wry humor accompanied by some (but not enough!) plot tension. There's a little of a "Waiting for Godot" feeling about it. The humor is strong enough to read it just for that, yet there is throughout an undercurrent of depth that challenges the reader. Each chapter begins with a quotation. The one from T. S. Eliot's "Little Gidding" is the most telling, but each give the reader a sort of coded access to the depth of the novel. Throughout, spirituality is important to the main character, as well as confusing to him. The Foreword and the Editor's Afterword, both part of the novel (i.e. fictitious), are essential to it and shouldn't be skipped.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-28 00:00:00 Gary Crawford The bond between a father and daughter is strong enough to weather the most violent storms, but it can also bring savage heartache. From the moment Melissa enters this world in a flurry of chaos and happiness, she holds and manipulates her father's love. There is no way to predict the roller-coaster ride they face. Almost overnight, Melissa's father loses his sweet, little girl. Left in her place is an erratic, unstable, deeply unhappy teenager who is hell-bent on obliterating boundaries and pushing her father, as well as her mother and sisters, to the breaking point. Caught in the middle of her parents' divorce, she doesn't hide her disdain for the rules. But she goes to great lengths to keep her father ignorant of just how far into trouble she falls or how she's trapped by three "friends" from whom there is no escape. Overwhelmed by the stress his crumbling marriage causes, Melissa's father struggles to keep his own life together while trying to save his daughter from the point of no return. He finds himself, alone, bound by his own four walls, drowning in loneliness and tears. Melissa's father, it seems, will have to lose it all to bring her back from the brink.