Book Review: Finny by Justin Kramon

Title: Finny
Author: Justin Kramon
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Publication Date: July 13, 2010
Paperback: 384 pages
ISBN: 978-0812980233
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Justin Kramon’s debut novel, Finny, is a sweeping, enchanting voyage, an insightful story about a young woman’s complicated path to adulthood.

We meet Finny Short as an observant, defiant fourteen-year-old who can’t make sense of her family’s unusual habits: Her mother offers guidance appropriate for a forty-year-old socialite; her father quotes Nietzsche over pancakes. Finny figures she’s stuck with this lonely lot until she meets Earl Henckel, a boy who comes from an even stranger place than she does. Unhappy with Finny’s budding romance with Earl, her parents ship her off to Thorndon boarding school. But mischief follows Finny as she befriends New York heiress Judith Turngate, a girl whose charm belies a disquieting reckless streak.

Finny’s relationships with Earl and Judith open her up to dizzying possibilities of love and loss and propel her into a remarkable adventure spanning twenty years and two continents. Justin Kramon has given us a wickedly funny odyssey with a moving and original love story at its core. Finny introduces us to an unforgettable heroine, a charmingly intricate world, and an uncommonly entertaining and gifted young novelist.

My Review:

Through bizarre circumstances, eccentric characters, and extraordinary events lies an undercurrent of deep sadness in Justin Kramon’s debut novel Finny. The novel chronicles Finny Short’s life beginning at age 14, and for the next 20 years, the story is told in a straightforward manner and the reader may easily be taken aback at first by Finny. Finny is not an average 14 year old and the events surrounding her life are anything but dull. I will admit I did not enjoy the first section and a half of the novel, for reference the novel is written in three sections, but I am glad I read the novel through to its completion. Finny, at first glance, is a 14-year-old brat and her boarding school experience did not make me care for her more, but as I mentioned, the novel picked up for me and by the end I truly was glad I chose to finish it. Why? I cannot say without spoilers, however, Finny is a beautifully crafted novel of a unique girl who learns how to become a woman. I believe Kramon has the potential to become a name in the literary field, as his approach to his characters is refreshing and decidedly not dull and he writes brilliantly. I recommend Finny to anyone looking for a completely different type of literary story filled with humour, wit, an eccentric cast of characters and profound sadness and love. Finny is a book that will stay with the reader long after the story has ended. I highly recommend Finny to book discussion groups.

About the Author:

A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Justin Kramon has published stories in Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, Boulevard, Fence, TriQuarterly, and others. He has received honors from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America, Best American Short Stories, the Hawthornden International Writers’ Fellowship, and the Bogliasco Foundation. He teaches at Gotham Writers’ Workshop in New York City and at the Iowa Young Writers’ Workshop. Now twenty-nine years old, he lives in Philadelphia.

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I received a complimentary copy of Finny by Justin Kramon from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.