Lisa Selin Davis Wrote an Excellent Novel
Belly by Lisa Selin Davis is one of this blog’s notable books for 2005. Set in Saratoga Springs, New York it tells the story of BellyO’Leary as he returns from prison to his beloved home town. I posted a review of the novel on Amazon under the username ‘davidthayer.’ Don’t get me started about Amazon.
Rather than rehash my review I’ll speculate a bit. I enjoyed the novel because the protagonist is one of those people everyone wishes were dead. By everyone I mean his family. Davis doesn’t fall into the yawning trap of turning her secondary characters into saints; they have issues, they have personalities. Choosing a 58 year old man as a protagonist was gutsy. First of all, men that age are not on the demographic radar screen. Men that age have two primary options: wealth or death. If not wealthy or dead, they enter the service industry as Davis so skillfuly points out. Belly O’Reilly doesn’t wear Prada. God be praised.