The Sugarhouse
Please welcome Donald O’Donnovan to the site. He’s releasing his fiction tale, The Sugarhouse:
Autobiographical coming-of- age tale of five working class boys in the historic village of Cooperstown New York. The story centers around a local brothel called the Sugarhouse, operated by Ma Rutledge, the Maple Sugar Madam, and her two saucy, bovine daughters, Bertha and Emma.
“The happiest times at the Sugarhouse came when Ma Rutledge was making maple syrup. During these sap-boiling days the sugary breath of the candy kitchen penetrated everywhere. The beds of the girls were saturated with sweetness. A roll in the hay with Emma or Bertha was like rolling in pastry flour.”
But there’s trouble in paradise.
A new girl arrives at the Sugarhouse, Belle Saint Marie, “a dusky Cajun princess with snapping black eyes and a body no man could ever forget once he’d seen it.” A lovers’ triangle develops, with tragic consequences for local hayshaker Paul Greenfield.
“Guy DeWolfe and Belle Saint Marie were cut from the same cloth. That was obvious to everyone. The two of them were full of cayenne pepper. It was the French blood that surged in their veins. They were perfectly mated, like a pair of ocelots, hot-natured, highly strung, super-sexed and ferocious. Poor Paul Greenfield, who was easily the dullest man in Otsego County, simply didn’t stand a chance.”
Twenty years later. The author returns to Cooperstown, having lost touch with his four childhood friends. What has become of them? And the Sugarhouse?
“Supposing the whole town had been bulldozed away to make room for a strip mall, what one thing would I want to remain, to remain forever? Immediately I thought of the Sugarhouse. Yes, the Sugarhouse. Smash everything if you must, but don’t destroy the Sugarhouse. That was my prayer.”
Per our normal operating procedure on authors new to the concept of serialized audiobooks, the first five are in the default feed. Donald should be providing new episodes weekly. Or if you prefer to exercise a bit more control, get a custom feed and choose how often you get new episodes.
October 29th, 2008 at 7:41 am
I really enjoyed that ! What an affectionate , evocative portrayal of his home town by Mr. O’Donnovan in his rich , well-modulated voice , varied for each incarnation ! It reminds me a little of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” and “American Graffiti” and I love the Ragtime piano accompaniment in the background . Every small town needs a writer as gifted as Mr.O’Donnovan to chronicle its events and colourful characters .
November 6th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
John,
Thanks very much for your generous and insightful comments! I appreciate your interest. I see from your spelling (colourful) that you’re from the UK. It’s exciting to realize that my words have flown across the Pond (if that’s in fact where you are, presently). Words have wings, as they say.
Best regards!
November 7th, 2008 at 9:26 am
A most tantalizing jaunt into a world of complexity and mystery and visionary delights through the written words and warm-readings of American novelist Donald O’Donovan…
November 7th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Kathleen,
Thanks for listening. And thanks for your comments. “Visionary delights,” you say. You’re too kind. But I like it!
Best wishes!
November 7th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Hey! Cool Americana stuff! And we’re from New York too! How do I order some copies for my two wild brothers and boyfriend for the holidays? Thanks!
November 7th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Rachel,
Thanks for listening and commenting. Sorry, there are no print copies. I don’t have a publisher. They can listen to the book here at Podiobooks if that’s their cup of tea. New York, huh? NYC? I lived in NYC at 67 Sullivan Street, Little Italy, near St. Anthony’s Cathedral.
November 22nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
I downloaded the first 4 chapters and really enjoyed the story, a few days later I get chapter 5, now today I get a notice the book is complete… what happened to the rest of the story?
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Nothing happened to it, David. I didn’t realize that Donald had uploaded ALL of the episodes at once, and he didn’t know he needed to tell me that.
Corrected yesterday and made the post so no one would be wondering if more episodes were coming.
November 26th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
i am in the love with the eleqent speaking.. Just devine. Thank you so much for your great characters.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
This story is a son-of-a-bitch! hard, unflinching, maudlin nostalgia.. also whores! thank you Mr O’Donovan for sharing it with us!
August 14th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
At only five episodes this is a relatively short podiobook, but do not dismay as the experience does not suffer harshly because of the modest volume of content.
This is a powerful recount of significant events experienced in ‘Small Town USA’ by our main character as he grows from childhood to midlife tethered by a thin elastic of ambiguity, and an absence of expectation and direction. This tale is heavily flavoured by the myriad of colourful characters who grace its pages; all who seem inclined to have a wealth of sleazy experiences of their own and string of suspect tales waiting to be told.
These characters have a truly a life-like quality, and this pared with exciting events, a strategically organised story line, and sordid frankness leaves me wondering just how much of this story is based on true events.
At just five chapters there is no excess, no wastage, and no padding. The author makes every word count and the effect is a sharp crisp taste of life as it unfolds for our protagonist. The harried pace lends to a sharp focused progression that splashes bucketfuls of vivid images in your mind rather than delicately shading them in place with a water coloured alternative.
I liked the author’s concise style of writing and expect a lot of brutal editing has been done here to keep the edge of this story finely honed. Over all the story works very well, but I think it suffers from a slight underdevelopment that doesn’t quite satiate my literary appetite. Conversely, at the conclusion I experienced an unsettling sensation at the insignificance of my own short life as I examined the influence that events of my past had on my development – something which may not have been accomplished with a longer story. One other thing which was a trifle chafing was the limited insight on the effect all these experiences had on our protagonist. The book is largely a recount of his incidents that occur and though there are fleeting glimpses inside the workings of his mind there is never a true taste of flavour of his character and its development. This left me marginally detached, and I never got that ‘feeling of synchronous empathy’ that is sometimes established with a character as the story progresses. I rather felt cheated out of this sensation by this story which is a bit of a shame as I feel it would have added an extra dimension, and even more so because I felt it was always just at my fingertips.
The oratory is richly flavoured with inflection and intonation, and delivered with a husky sandstone tone that etches the story very nicely in audio format. The sound quality is very good, I could hardly fault the recording levels, the clarity or production; something so often overlooked or robbed of significance in other podiobooks.
I really liked this one and would love to see more from this author.