A Review - Dakota Blues- A Novel by Lynne M. Spreen

Dakota Blues. I want to say this title over and over again.  I want to think about what this book means to me, and remember this title.  As I look at this picture on the face of the book, with the big bold title, I wonder what it meant to this author, Lynne Morgan Spreen, to write words that encompass a lifetime for a character, by the name of Karen Grace.  I want to ask, who lives in this lonely looking house, sitting on the prairie of North Dakota?  In just a few short weeks, Karen Grace’s life is turned upside down and inside out....but through her strength, this character survives to greet the sunrise of her future.  

Questions about the “Blues”:   Do I feel blue, and saddened by this word?  Will I feel sad when I read this story? The word, “Blues”, reminds me of jazz sequences – simple and melodically following through metaphor - a riff of Karen Grace’s life, and then morphs her stagnant existence into a living and breathing whole presence on the page.  Lessons complete with a story to hold onto.

We can dance to and fro, swing back and forth, as we listen to the lessons; and then Lynne Spreen makes us stand still in the middle of the dance floor, to look at our selves staring back; The mirror, that partner we carry around with us, leading us through life, for which we rarely do stand still for, and to silently listen and learn from these life experiences.

Like always, as you can tell, I won’t give you the story, you have to read it for yourself - but what I can do is quote the first paragraph, in Chapter Two.  I love metaphor, and Lynne Spreen not only gives it to me, but shows it in this life of Karen Grace.  I recommend this book, for the young, and for the old – and all the in-betweens.

The thirty-seater bucked and lurched toward Teddy Roosevelt Regional, but Karen continued to study her computer screen, assessing the pluses and minuses of Wes’ latest cost-cutting scheme.  Only once did she pause, grasping the laptop to keep it from sailing to the floor, but she never stopped, even when the attendant warned the passengers to return to their seats and buckle up.  Like most CEO’s, Wes had been using the Great Recession as his excuse to slash staff to the bone, thereby showing positive growth on the company’s balance sheets.  Anybody who managed to creep up the salary ladder was fair game.  Age was a target, too.  The older employees were tossed onto the ice floes and shoved off into the dark waters of the frigid economy.

At fifty years old and the top of the pay scale, Karen would not let that happen to her.