Red Willow Brew
The Taos, New Mexico, novel that argues for love while giving a heads-up to the threat of nuclear terrorism Bottoms Up! Prosit! Cheers!

A Critic's Toast to Two Daring Entrepreneurs,
Who Bring the Meaning of Celebration to Life
 Christopher, a retired nuclear physicist, settles in Taos, New Mexico partly to recover from three failed marriages, but above all to deal with the demon of his own role in potential nuclear war, while he worked at the Los Alamos Laboratory. Marlene is a German immigrant, an artist, who wishes to seek her fortune in the multicultural scene of Taos. Their meeting and eventual affair, are a classic case of opposites attracting. Marlene, full of life, enthusiasm, hope for the future, is the perfect foil for jaded, cynical, and Doomsday-thinking Christopher. But RED WILLOW BREW is not a love story despite the strong and often poignant thread of romantic interest running through the novel. Rather, the passion between the characters symbolizes the struggle between hope and despair, possibility and inevitability. As one would expect from a literary novel, the novel teems with symbolism. Marlene's brewpub symbolizes the danger fermenting beneath the surface of pleasure, artistic expression, and peace. The novel Christopher starts writing symbolizes the death Christopher fears he has helped bring to the world. Marlene doesn't let rejection and unpaid bills get her down. She has difficulty getting accepted as an artist, so she uses her Old World skill to start a brewpub. Because she believes nothing is beyond possible, she makes friends with people who help her circumvent the machinations of characters who represent the xenophobic side of society. Christopher, on the other hand, believes the only thing that is possible, indeed likely, is nuclear war. Through his novel within a novel, he attempts to exorcise his demons through a character that is also a nuclear physicist, and sets out on a cross-country odyssey to warn Americans of the threat of a worldwide holocaust. As he reads portions of his novel to a rapt audience at Marlene's brew pub, Christopher thinks he will have his character save the world from this terror. Marlene, however, fears that Christopher intends the opposite action--to blow up the Los Alamos bunker of warheads. Not knowing what to expect from a novel categorized as a "Literary thriller," I began reading with some skepticism. Through the prologue and first chapter, the history lessons, though interesting, seemed more an indication that the author had done her research than a necessary part of the story. By the second chapter, however, the characters and plot line had me involved in their fears and hopes, neuroses and passions. Later, I realized that Lois and Jon had included the history for a reason as she included every other detail in this tight-knit novel. A casual reader might call this novel "Jayne Ann Krentz meets Tom Wolf." But this is no novel for the casual reader. Thought provoking, poignant, frequently funny and often times exciting, this is a book to read again and again alone and with friends to analyze, explore, and savor. —Reviewed by Laurie Alice Eakes, ScribesWorld.com Return to Home Page Home.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0