Completed on:

08/04/2016

Review Rating:

5 stars! Download your free 5 Star Seal.

Reviewed By Ray Simmons for Readers’ Favorite

I loved Listening to Ghosts by Bob Stockton. But here’s the thing. I’m not quite sure why. I hope I can pinpoint some of the reasons why I like it by saying a little about what I usually read. In truth that would be just about everything. My mom was a librarian and I practically grew up in her library. I read everything, but there is a decided bias towards action adventure and science fiction. Listening to Ghosts is definitely not science fiction or action adventure. It is a memoir about a family that is extraordinarily ordinary. I think the major attraction of Listening to Ghosts must be the writing. The people described are ordinary and commonly found. I know many people like them, even though I’m from a different part of America. But the only thing ordinary people need in order to be extraordinary and let their true character shine is good writing. There is plenty of that in Listening to Ghosts.

Listening to Ghosts captures a particular moment in space and time. That is just about all a writer can do when he sits down to write about his life. I am a world traveler, but occasionally when I visit home, I'm painfully aware that it is not really the home of my heart and mind. Things change. Things change dramatically, and sometimes home can deliver more culture shock than a foreign country. The best you can do is make a record of your time, and your place, and what it means to you. If and when I decide to do that, I hope I can do it half as well as Bob Stockton. That would make it pretty damn good. Listening to Ghosts flows smoothly...like an athlete in the zone.