Dyed Souls - Gary Santorella
Book Synopsis: ‘My mom leans back, smiles, and strokes my cheek. “That’s all right, Charlie. Never you mind. You just got soft living with your grandparents, is all. You forgot that most people don’t have it so easy—that you have to be tough to make it in this world.”’ Set in the 1980’s, Dyed Souls follows the life of 13-year-old Charlie; an intelligent, troubled teen, taken from his grandparents by his drug addicted mother, only to end up at Hawthorne Residential Treatment Village. There he ponders Darwin, Socrates, and Plato, and unexpectedly falls in love with a girl named Margo. When she breaks his heart, Charlie runs away, beginning a new journey that will leave him shattered before he finally makes it to Virginia. Back with his grandparents, the return of his mother forces him to learn a bitter truth that changes his life forever. Dyed Souls is a thought-provoking, gritty novel, that will appeal to fans of literary fiction and philosophical literature. A coming-of-age novel, it is suitable for both young adult and adult readers.
Thank you to Rachel's Random Resources for allowing me to read a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
Here are my thoughts and opinions that I had while reading:
I've never really read a book that was set in the '80s, but I was excited to dive in. Dyed Souls by Gary Santorella is quite the unique and unusual (in a good way) spin on a insightful topic. After I read it, I was left thinking about what I just read and now I'm trying to form my overall opinion on Dyed Souls.
Below is a picture of the author, Gary Santorella.
Gary Santorella, Owner, Interactive Consulting is a Lean implementation, organizational development, conflict resolution, and team-building specialist. He has a BA in Behavioural Psychology from Providence College, Providence, RI (1980), a Master’s Degree in Occupational Social Welfare from UC Berkeley (1990), and is a licensed cognitive-behavioural therapist in the State of California. His book: Lean Culture for the Construction Industry: Building Responsible & Committed Project Teams 2nd Edition was published by Productivity Press (a division of Taylor & Francis) in 2017. His first novel, Dyed Souls, was published by Matador Publishing in 2018.
Clearly, this book focuses on the main character, Charlie who is only 13 years old! Anyway, the way it was written made me think of an orphan story that centers around the idea of finding yourself and learning to live on your own, while the rest of the world keeps on turning.
If I were to sum up why you should read this book in one sentence, I would say: Dyed Souls is original, what are you waiting for, go read it!
Mainly, the reason that I didn't round this up to 5 stars, is because this isn't the type of book that I normally read, nevertheless, I did enjoy the time I had invested into reading the story. Another reason for my rating is that while this book is thought provoking, I just didn't like the fact that I could relate to Charlie and what he was going through. Then again, I'm not a teenage boy who went through that ordeal.
For what it's worth, I think that this book will excite many readers and will become a new favorite for many.
Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5 Stars