The Big Door Prize by M.O. WalshMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Big Door Prize is a big-hearted novel. Fans of John Prine will appreciate the frequent references to his lyrics in chapter titles and scattered in dialogue and narration. Though the story is by no means derivative, Walsh’s characters could easily be pulled from a Prine song and his loose manner of story-telling is clearly an influence. The central question of the novel may be “How can one know one’s life potential?” It is an answer that a new DNAMIX machine in the local grocery story in Deerfield, Louisiana, claims to give, leading many of the townspeople to upend their lives and change directions. There is an air of magic to the town as it approaches its bicentennial celebration and an air of catastrophe as some fear the DNAMIX is giving out false hope. The town has its secrets, too, as do each of the main characters. The question remains whether this new knowledge of the future will bring them together or tear them apart.
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Kendall Dunkelberg 