Floodmarkers

This book is a series of interlinked short stories, all taking place around Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina in the mid 1980's. I found that he could convey vast amounts of information about a character in a very few economical details and to some extent the novel is a series of character sketches under stress rather than a plot driven narrative structure. There is a vast range of characters with a wide range of issues, relationships, and problems. Don't let this stop you however since each character is really only on the stage of the novel for a short period and then the story and storm move on. The oncoming flood in the novel tends to up stress upon already stressful relationships and thus heighten all emotions, a strategy that Brown used well. Brown writes well with a compelling style that is never boring or slow. Many of the characters are high school and college age young people and Brown captures their drinking, drug using, romances and sexual adventures well. I can imagine that this book would be especially appealing to folks 18 to 30. There has been some comparison of Floodmarkers to Winesburg Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. I don't really agree with the comparison other than the structure of the novels. Both use short character studies as the focus of a series of short stories that are all held together because they are related to folks living in the same town. Anderson's Winesburg Ohio is a dark deterministic claustrophobic downer of a novel as compared to Brown's Floodmarkers which is more revealing of the conflict between determinism and free will, of dependency and upward mobility, and between acceptance or rejection of life's circumstances. One character is a child molester who has learned to control and channel his impulses into pornography instead of molesting his young nephew. This example will let you know that Brown obviously believes people are more in control of their impulses and their lives than does Anderson in the poor depressed victimized characters of Winesburg Ohio. In summary, the book is witty, well written, fast moving, and highly insightful into human strengths and weaknesses and the consequences of the web of human interrelationships.

When I picked up Floodmarkers I didn't have particularly high expectations. First book, interconnected stories. But within a few pages, I was hooked. Nic Brown plops his absolutely pitch perfect characters into incredible, revealing, often heart breaking situations. You'll want to throw a life preserver to these lost men and women -- not to save them from Hurricane Hugo, the devastating storm that connects the stories, but to save them from themselves and those they love.

I read Floodmarkers on a rainy day and couldn't put it down! It made me laugh at such things as his description of hot dogs. It made me feel like home at such descriptions as Meats and Treats, Tripp Ln, the Barn Dinner Theatre!! God, it was all familiar and all brilliantly written. I loved the timeframe of the book and he really took me into the lives of the people. I was crying and laughing and loving the depth of compassion he revealed for each character. I've never written a review before so I'm gonna stop now. But, I really hope everyone reads this book, especially on a rainy day! It'll take away the glooms and dooms and you'll be sad when the stories and lives of those folks are over. At least I was! Keep writing Nic Brown! And thanks.

Of all the books that made their debut this summer, Floodmarkers, is the one that left a lasting impression, and a permanent spot on my bookshelf. I devoured it quickly, handing it off to my favorite barista (at my favorite coffee shop) the next morning - READ this, I said. (she did, loved it, and passed along to another friend!) Brown's voice, is refreshingly honest. He's not trying to woo anyone with clever words, and metaphors and his ability to turn a pretty phrase (though he can do all of that)! He's the kind of author you forget exists because the character's voices are so strong. Brown says it like it is - the bad, the ugly, the profane and oddly wonderful. Twelve stories, linked by an hurricane - not just any hurricane, 1984's monster; Hurricane Hugo. Don't assume that this is a book solely centered on a destructive/act of nature. Sure, an auspice weatherman gives us a report in his chirpy(don't give a damn) sing-song voice between slices of human drama ... but that's the touchstone that propels the characters forward - you're dying to find out - will the hurricane destroy before the human's do? Take the characters out of the eye of the hurricane, and place them in another inclement disaster zone - and you will have the same age old stories: love, death, fear, longing, passion and new beginnings. Floodmarkers, is a fabulous read with incredible snapshots of what it means to be human. Get a copy, read, pass along and wait (like me) for the Indy film!