Title: As Nutritious As Chewing Gum
Product review: The Honk and Holler is a tired truck stop, run by a tired owner, and patronized by tired regulars. The place is spiced up when vagabond Vena Takes Horse appears (followed shortly by another refugee, Bui Khanh), but the story needs more than a dash of seasoning.The flyleaf reads, "the characters who drift in and out of the Honk..." That aptly describes the characters: they drift in and out. It makes for a jumble of a story and leaves the reader constantly wondering how their circumstances tie together. Other than the restaurant, there seemed to be no common thread. It's hard to avoid comparison of the solid, passionate characters of WHERE THE HEART IS with the stick figures of THE HONK AND HOLLER. If only Ms. Letts hadn't been rushed to follow up the Oprah success; perhaps she would have been able to add meat to their bones.
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