Wow, the book is selling! I'm so amazed.
Hello to everyone! Wow, the book is really selling . . . this is so wonderful. And the newspaper in my home town of Cedar Rapids (second largest in the state of Iowa; that's unfortunately not saying much, considering that more people live in San Antonio than in Iowa) carried a wonderful, positively glowing review on the first page of the second section. A photo of me and the cover of the book, all in color. My goodness.
I am trying to figure out how to post this review to my website or on this blog. It's a little long for a blog, I think. But I'm just going to post it here for now so you can all read and enjoy! Especially for my long-suffering and faithful readers from way back when . . . this is a testimony to your work, too. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and HERE'S THE FIRST REVIEW:
Writer finds inspiration in C.R. Czech community CEDAR RAPIDS — Joe Vesely heard his mother die on a cold, gray November afternoon while he lay in the front seat of the abandoned car where they both lived. So begins the tale of Joe, 14 and alone, as he comes of age in Cedar Rapids in the 1930s in the book ‘‘Found on 16th Avenue’’ by Cedar Rapids native Karen Roth. This is a story of the Great Depression, of extended families living together, of men desperate for work, of children scrounging for food, of prostitution and the consumption of alcohol during Prohibition, of really hard times. Yet it is a tale of hope, of religious faith, of new cars and homes, of love and marriage, of baseball and hard work, of lessons learned and the quest for brighter futures. Joe Vesely’s mother had gone from man to man for her own survival, treated her son as an annoyance and died of alcohol poisoning. He was a tough kid because he had to be, destined for a life not much different than hers until he is taken in by her good-hearted sister and preacher husband. While this is fiction, it’s a story that could have taken place anywhere in the United States in 1933-34. The fact that it’s centered around Czech Village in Cedar Rapids, however, makes it seem more realistic to someone who lives here today. There is the Cedar River, the 16th Avenue bridge, St. Wenceslaus Church, Quaker, the stores along ‘‘the avenue,’’ the smells of the meatpacking plant. Young children play in Riverside Park and collect golf balls at Ellis Park. The city as a whole shows promise, with a new radio manufacturing company called Collins and a new bank known as Guaranty. ‘‘I absolutely love the old stories of the Czech community,’’ Karen says. ‘‘I grew up : Ramblin'/ Self-published book tells great story • FROM PAGE 1B in that neighborhood. I wanted to somehow keep these memories alive for people today.’’ Born at what was then called Mercy Hospital, Karen lived in northeast Cedar Rapids but spent a lot of time with her grandmother and other family members in Czech Village. Her father, Alvin Oujiri, was an early employee of Collins Radio. Karen turned 50 in August and says ‘‘I love it. Life gets better as you grow older.’’ She says that, with age, you become less concerned about what people think of you and you’re more open to learning. Which is why this teacher of writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio began work a couple of years ago on the first of what will become a trilogy about Joe Vesely. ‘‘I just thought I’d write it and see who wants to read it,’’ she says about the selfpublished book. While a couple of Christian book publishers showed interest, they didn’t buy it, she says. ‘‘I’m a first-time author. They needed to go with what they knew would work.’’ Karen also knew that selling her book would take time. She wanted her family to be able to read and enjoy it, so she self-published. She had 1,500 copies printed and also published a teacher’s guide for school classes. The extra effort shows. For a self-published book, ‘‘Found on 16th Avenue’’ is as good as it gets, an excellent read that all of Cedar Rapids would enjoy. Karen has captured the essence of the times and the city. Her prose flows freely chapter after chapter, one turn after another in Joe’s life and the lives of people around him. Karen left Cedar Rapids while in her 20s and spent some time in New York before moving to Texas where she has lived for 26 years. ‘‘When I came back to Iowa, I saw it with different eyes,’’ she says. Her eyes also concocted the characters from the variety of people she’s known, especially Joe, a composite of young boys born into ‘‘harsh’’ conditions who need direction in their lives, and the preacher, John Mark, who quotes Scripture to set the young man on the right path. If there’s a knock on the book, it’s sometimes excessively religious. Karen is fully aware that ‘‘Christian fiction’’ can turn some people off, so she prefers the term ‘‘inspirational fiction.’’ In that light, you fully expect a character like the preacher to discuss his beliefs. Karen is a realist — she knows ‘‘Found on 16th Avenue’’ wasn’t destined for bestseller lists — and for that, her first novel works extremely well. She is writing the sequel, ‘‘My Portion Forever,’’ where Joe becomes a World War II soldier who falls in love with a nurse on the North Africa front. While this second book will have very little about Cedar Rapids, it’s still about a young man who grew up here. That fact, and Karen’s ability to tell a compelling story, makes me want to know what happens next to Joe Vesely. • Dave Rasdal’s column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at (319) 398-8323 or dave.rasdal@gazettecommunications.com
I am trying to figure out how to post this review to my website or on this blog. It's a little long for a blog, I think. But I'm just going to post it here for now so you can all read and enjoy! Especially for my long-suffering and faithful readers from way back when . . . this is a testimony to your work, too. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and HERE'S THE FIRST REVIEW:
Writer finds inspiration in C.R. Czech community CEDAR RAPIDS — Joe Vesely heard his mother die on a cold, gray November afternoon while he lay in the front seat of the abandoned car where they both lived. So begins the tale of Joe, 14 and alone, as he comes of age in Cedar Rapids in the 1930s in the book ‘‘Found on 16th Avenue’’ by Cedar Rapids native Karen Roth. This is a story of the Great Depression, of extended families living together, of men desperate for work, of children scrounging for food, of prostitution and the consumption of alcohol during Prohibition, of really hard times. Yet it is a tale of hope, of religious faith, of new cars and homes, of love and marriage, of baseball and hard work, of lessons learned and the quest for brighter futures. Joe Vesely’s mother had gone from man to man for her own survival, treated her son as an annoyance and died of alcohol poisoning. He was a tough kid because he had to be, destined for a life not much different than hers until he is taken in by her good-hearted sister and preacher husband. While this is fiction, it’s a story that could have taken place anywhere in the United States in 1933-34. The fact that it’s centered around Czech Village in Cedar Rapids, however, makes it seem more realistic to someone who lives here today. There is the Cedar River, the 16th Avenue bridge, St. Wenceslaus Church, Quaker, the stores along ‘‘the avenue,’’ the smells of the meatpacking plant. Young children play in Riverside Park and collect golf balls at Ellis Park. The city as a whole shows promise, with a new radio manufacturing company called Collins and a new bank known as Guaranty. ‘‘I absolutely love the old stories of the Czech community,’’ Karen says. ‘‘I grew up : Ramblin'/ Self-published book tells great story • FROM PAGE 1B in that neighborhood. I wanted to somehow keep these memories alive for people today.’’ Born at what was then called Mercy Hospital, Karen lived in northeast Cedar Rapids but spent a lot of time with her grandmother and other family members in Czech Village. Her father, Alvin Oujiri, was an early employee of Collins Radio. Karen turned 50 in August and says ‘‘I love it. Life gets better as you grow older.’’ She says that, with age, you become less concerned about what people think of you and you’re more open to learning. Which is why this teacher of writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio began work a couple of years ago on the first of what will become a trilogy about Joe Vesely. ‘‘I just thought I’d write it and see who wants to read it,’’ she says about the selfpublished book. While a couple of Christian book publishers showed interest, they didn’t buy it, she says. ‘‘I’m a first-time author. They needed to go with what they knew would work.’’ Karen also knew that selling her book would take time. She wanted her family to be able to read and enjoy it, so she self-published. She had 1,500 copies printed and also published a teacher’s guide for school classes. The extra effort shows. For a self-published book, ‘‘Found on 16th Avenue’’ is as good as it gets, an excellent read that all of Cedar Rapids would enjoy. Karen has captured the essence of the times and the city. Her prose flows freely chapter after chapter, one turn after another in Joe’s life and the lives of people around him. Karen left Cedar Rapids while in her 20s and spent some time in New York before moving to Texas where she has lived for 26 years. ‘‘When I came back to Iowa, I saw it with different eyes,’’ she says. Her eyes also concocted the characters from the variety of people she’s known, especially Joe, a composite of young boys born into ‘‘harsh’’ conditions who need direction in their lives, and the preacher, John Mark, who quotes Scripture to set the young man on the right path. If there’s a knock on the book, it’s sometimes excessively religious. Karen is fully aware that ‘‘Christian fiction’’ can turn some people off, so she prefers the term ‘‘inspirational fiction.’’ In that light, you fully expect a character like the preacher to discuss his beliefs. Karen is a realist — she knows ‘‘Found on 16th Avenue’’ wasn’t destined for bestseller lists — and for that, her first novel works extremely well. She is writing the sequel, ‘‘My Portion Forever,’’ where Joe becomes a World War II soldier who falls in love with a nurse on the North Africa front. While this second book will have very little about Cedar Rapids, it’s still about a young man who grew up here. That fact, and Karen’s ability to tell a compelling story, makes me want to know what happens next to Joe Vesely. • Dave Rasdal’s column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at (319) 398-8323 or dave.rasdal@gazettecommunications.com