#BookReview ‘A Key To Treehouse Living’ by Elliot Reed

About the book…

A Key to Treehouse Living is the adventure of William Tyce, a boy without parents who grows up near a river in the rural Midwest. In a glossary-style list, he imparts his particular wisdom on subjects ranging from ASPHALT PATHS, BETTA FISH, and MULLET to MORTAL BETRAYAL, NIHILISM, and REVELATION. His improbable quest—to create a reference volume specific to his existence—takes him on a journey down the river by raft (see MYSTICAL VISION, see NAVIGATING BIG RIVERS BY NIGHT). He seeks to discover how his mother died (see ABSENCE) and find reasons for his father’s disappearance (see UNCERTAINTY, see VANITY). But as he goes about defining his changing world, all kinds of extraordinary and wonderful things happen to him.

Unlocking an earnest, clear-eyed way of thinking that might change your own, A Key to Treehouse Living is a story about keeping your own record straight and living life by a different code.

Thanks to the wonderful Nikki from MHPBooks for inviting me on the blogtour for ‘A Key To Treehouse Living’, out now in paperback and ebook wherever good books are sold.

”A final thing about brightness and its use in the nighttime:my uncle once told me that things are the same whether or not there’s light shining on them.He taught me about how if you’re alone in your room and it’s dark out and you start to see things grow and transform in the darkness of your room, just picture the way you room looks when the sunlight is shining in through your window.You won’t be scared anymore and the next thing you know, it will be morning.”

I honestly did not know what to expect from this novel, it is an explorration of the mindset of a young boy, whose experiences are collated in an encyclopedic fashion.

This,by rights, should have made it feel difficult to flow and get into, giving the impression that it is a novel that you can pick up and dip into. However, I found it difficult to put down nce begun, as I wanted to see where it ended up.

The experimental style of writing means that it can be read in a non-linear way-for example, some ebtries in the book cross reference others so by flipping to those pages, you experience the story telling in an alternative manner.

The narrator/compiler of this guide is William, a young boy living with his uncle and trying to make sense of his situation and the world that he lives in.

By seperating and dissecting the different portions of his life, he not only presents the reader with a personal history, he is giving you a guide to himself even as he writes about what he knows. For example, his companion, the Betta Fish.

”Betta fish can cure you of nightmares if you hold them in your mouth for ten seconds each night before you go to sleep.Fill your mouth with water from the tap, lean your head back and open your mouth,then drop in the fish. Close your mouth and let him dust his fins on the inside of your cheek.This relationship is like the one between remora and sharks.By cleaning your cheeks,the fish is absorbing your nightmares.The darker the Betta fish is, the more nightmares it has absorbed,and once it is black, it cannot absorb anymore nightmares,so you will want to pick out a light-coloured Betta Fish”.

You, the reader, need to work at this book to unlock its secrets,what at first appears whimsical and novel reveals itself to be deeply affecting, moving and immersive. I am not ashamed to say I was moved to tears by Will’s narrative and thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent reading his ‘key’. This is a debut of strength, talent and wit, and I would recommend this book to those looking for something outside their usual reads which will stretch and challenge them

About the author…

Elliot has lived many places and done different things for a living. His goal for a long time has been to write fiction that people want to read. He earned his MFA from the University of Florida. He published his first novel, A Key to Treehouse Living,  in 2018. The novel is written as a series of brief, glossary-style entries that subtly build a story over time. He’s also published short stories, interviews, and essays, and believes there are many ways to write exciting stories that we’ve never heard before. He finds good fiction is usually both delightful and frightening.

Links-https://themillions.com/2018/09/making-things-up-the-millions-interviews-elliot-reed.html