Wednesday, February 1, 2023

CHOP IT UP: One Visit by George Veck

 

"In sleepy, rural North Wales, Frankie Gibbs, a recently laid off, aimless twenty-year-old on Universal Credit, wants nothing more than to keep his younger brother out of the care system. He single-handedly takes this upon himself while their alcoholic, cocaine-addict, single-parent father, Guy Gibbs, heaps misery on their lives through systematic abuse and his never-ending wild parties. After Guy is sent to prison, Frankie is coerced into opening his home to Justice, an acquaintance from his school days now turned drug dealer, while his own addiction and self0worth spiral beyond recognition."

Taking in the synopsis alerts the reader how One Visit is set to be a rather dark–and some might say–depressing read. Usually when a book such as One Visit crosses my path, I have to wonder what will be the resulting message in the work. So seeing how the book centers around the subjects of abuse and addiction, I end up asking myself a few things. One: how much of the story will center around the dark premise in itself, leaving an avalanche of despair by its end? Two: how much will center around the theme in hopes that a message of hope will result in its conclusion? Of course, I'll leave that up to you–the reader–to arrive to. Yet, while I found the ending fairly gratifying, it was the journey forward that was tough. From a technical standpoint.

So it’s the technical part that I found harder to get through than One Visit's premise/theme. One Visit launches the reader straight into the throes of Frankie’s situation. We are there within the destitute of his living situation alongside his father’s abuse. Unfortunately, it took me several restarts to grasp what was taking place. The writing threw me into Frankie's circumstances, alongside a range of terms and descriptions that begged for more context. Now given the story takes place in North Wales, I did not quite understand many of the slang and reference terms. That's not to say that I had problems navigating and taking the opportunity to learn these terms. No, I wanted to understand the characters' lingo and certain words as I went along the story.
But my struggles came from comprehending those slang/reference terms on top of adapting to the author's writing style. This continued throughout the book, causing me to sometimes wonder what was happening. What, exactly, was taking place scene after scene. In many instances, the heavy use of dialogue helped guide me forward. In those cases, it was far easier to understand the narrative. Though eventually it all flowed to where I could better follow the story.

No, I don't know much about North Wales. I still appreciated One Visit because of its universal topics and the conversation it encourages. There were plenty of subjects presented within the story that anyone can relate to. I wish the novel flowed better to fully immerse, engage, and capture the reader within the experience. Otherwise, such as myself, you'll probably spend a lot of time rereading scenes and such to better understand what is taking place. Still, for the premise, theme, and subject matter, I give the book five stars.



George Veck grew up in rural North West Wales, where the hardships and lack of opportunities spurred his passion for tackling tough subjects, such as poverty, addiction, and mental health. Currently studying for a master's degree in screenwriting at the University of South Wales, he's written and directed three short films. One Visit was the first feature-length screenplay he ever wrote, and through the exposure of this novel, he hopes to garner interest and funding to turn it into a film one day. For news regarding his future novels and films, follow @vecks_gems_productions on Instagram.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Total Pageviews