Fast Ride with the Top Down

It took me a little while to get the "joke" when I began this book, then when the author brings in the character of Mrs. Crooks, I really got into it. This is a book I'll definitely read again, and probably more than twice! "Fast Ride With the Top Down" reminds me of another marvelous book I read titled "Horses and Cows". It has the same kind of droll style and sense of humor about the human condition. The characters are what one would call a bit off center, just slightly eccentric. Actually a lot like people are in real life. The author has a master's skill at the use of words and language. Her descriptive comparisons literally made me chuckle outloud every page or two. Nothing about this book bored me in the least. I did no skimming with this novel. The book's main character is an artist named Lacy Blackwood. Lacy has desires, fears and insecurities like all human beings, and is quite easy to identify with. In the beginning, Lacy appears to be a bi-sexual woman. She had an early intensely romantic and erotic interlude with another girl. When that ended she moved on to a couple of disasterous relaitonships with men, one of whom she married. It ended in divorce. Lacy currents lives with her younger brother, Franco. Franco is delightfully wacky. To cover up some of his antics, Lacy refers to him as a "priest, sort of," and hopes nobody will ask any more questions. In addition to looking after her dependent brother, Lacy also soft-heartedly takes in a homeless woman named Mrs. Crooks. Lacy becomes involved with a beautiful woman named Shane. Shane, however, is involved with every woman that passes her way. The book doesn't exactly come to a conclusive ending--as Lacy, Franco and Mrs. Crooks drive off "into the sunset." together. Some things are resolved, however, to a certain extent. I only wished the book were longer. I thoroughly enjoyed every one of the 160 pages of this slim novel. It's the !kind of book one reads to find out what happens to the characters, and then want to pick up and re-read again, once you know those answers, just to enjoy the ride!