So many of today's readers will never believe the "stuff" we did in the 70s. Advances in technology and every other ology have made many essential jobs and businesses obsolete. Even advances in productivity pushed so many from a solid, secure world into one where their skills and abilities were no longer relevant. In FREEDOM, Mike Bond tells the story with all of the ugly bits revealed. It's a great story with so many memories built in.

It was the 60’s. The story continues. The first book Freedom introduces the four youth - Mick and Tara O’Brien, Troy, a runaway orphan becomes part of the O’Brien family and Daisy, who is Mick’s girlfriend. I did read Freedom and it is not necessary to read it first. America can be read as a stand alone. Strong themes of sex, drugs, racism, war and politics, especially in regards to the Vietnam War. The writing is filled with what was going on in the 60’s and the book has lots of sex. The first part of the book for me had more substance.

Thank you #Netgalley, #BigCityPress, #MikeBond and #America for the copy for my honest review.

Freedom by Mike Bond is the second book in his America series, featuring Mick, his sister Tara, adopted brother Troy and Mick’s high school girlfriend Daisy. All are now in their 20s, pursuing their varied paths in the turbulent mid-60s—post JFK assassination, LBJ’s war in Vietnam, and political unrest around the world.
Troy is a Marine in Vietnam, while Mick has become a draft resistor and anti-war activist. Tara is a musician and vocalist in a very successful rock and roll band, and Daisy is a neuroscience grad student researching the effects of LSD.
I really like the author’s story-telling style, which blends character-driven narrative with real world events. The flavor of the times rings true as I knew folks of all these character types in the 60s. If the historical facts presented here are accurate, politics were much murkier than I ever realized then. The depictions of drug use are authentic, especially on the progressive coasts. While there was a new-found sexual freedom with the introduction of the birth control pill, the story itself did not need so much descriptive promiscuity to move the tale forward.
America, the first novel in this series, is excellent! This second entry feels more serious as it focuses on the angst of young adults, mostly male, as they struggle with the social realities of war, racism, economics and their future.
While this could be read as a stand-alone, I would recommend beginning with “America” for a rounder look at these very interesting characters.

Thank you to Big City Press, Mike Bond and NetGalley for the ARC. These opinions are solely my own.

Part of a series. The book follows, mainly, three siblings whose lives diverge onto very different paths. Mick, the antiwar activist; Troy, the soldier; and Tara, the musician. All three face challenges and, frankly, I kept waiting for at least one of them to have their appointment at Samarra. The book follows the 60s mantra of "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll", and Mick, more than the other characters, is actually a walking petri dish. The writing is, for the most part, elegant and riveting. The story flows easily, but does have an abrupt ending. Descriptions of Southeast Asia are beautiful, and those of the Himalayas are breathtaking. Although a long book, it doesn't take long to read. Powerful and well written story about the horrors of the Viet Nam war. Sad that we never seem to learn from history and repeat the same mistakes. We let corporate America and all their power for money get us involved in wars we don't belong.



Thanks again to Big City Press and NetGalley

DNF

i wish i'd known this was a the 2nd book in a projected 7 book series....

my hope is that, part of the reason i did not connect with any of the main characters was due to all their character building happened in the first book "America". as it was, we're thrown into 3 disparate, meandering, overwrought narratives (i think there is supposed to be a 4th but her arc is barely covered) of damaged, rather unlikeable characters.

this is not say "Freedom" is poorly written, because there is clearly craft here, it's just not for me.

I was attracted to this book because of its subject matter, the sixties, which I lived through, though I was six or seven years younger than the characters here. I did not read the first book which might have given me more insight into the characters" motivations. There is a lot of violence, alot of sex, and too many static discussions of strategy where the forward motion seems to stop. And about the last of these, it's never quite clear how Mick ends up meeting with the likes of Bobby Kennedy, Bella Abzug, and Al Lowenstein.

The book, as does its predecessor, focuses on the experiences of four main characters. This book seems to focus mostly on Mick. I actually found Troy to be the most interesting character, perhaps because he was more fleshed out as a character than Mick and I clearly saw his dilemma. Mick's story seemed all over the place (literally) and his motivations were not clear. He talks alot about the war in Vietnam but it is unclear why he becomes such a one issue guy. The women in the book, with the exception of Su Li, are objectified by the men in their lives. Every woman is a potential conquest.

I thought the plot was interesting--Mick's many adventures, Troy's horrific experiences in Vietnam; Tara in Detroit during the riots. Nice incorporation of the music of the time as counterpoint. Overall, the book is very grim--at the end, all of the characters are in a bad way and the US is burning to the ground with all of the protests. The author has a somewhat paranoid view (perhaps?) that the CIA is responsible for all the bad stuff in the world.

Also in reading the book, I could not help but compare the world of the sixties with today--the fabric of the country is once again rent by divisions and protests. As with Vietnam, we recently ended an unsuccessful and questionable war in Afghanistan.

This was a did not finish for me.

I felt like it was all over the place without a real focus and tried way too hard with the drugs, Bobby Kennedy and violence.

Coarse language and sexual content was too much for me so I couldn't finish it.. I was interested in the story because I grew up in this time period, but story was just not engaging to me.

I was a teen in the 60s and a college student in the 70s so I really looked forward to having some happy flashbacks. I liked the use of the four main characters having the “freedom” to choose different paths in their lives.
I had to stop reading at the 20% mark. The book upset me, mainly because of the descriptions of war and violence. I am sure there are plenty of readers that don’t mind reading these descriptions- but I’m not one of them.

I received this book from NeGalley, the author and publisher in exchange for a review.

Having “grown up” during the Vietnam era, I was intrigued by the book. I was in high school and college during the years depicted and this absolutely gave you a sense of those times. It actually made me uncomfortable to reflect on the 60’s and all the experiences it brought back.

Love his books and this no exception. Gritty. Well written and enjoyable but tough. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher!

We follow four main characters and their lives through the turmoil of the sixties. I was a child of the sixties and really liked this book. The characters were strong and it was well written.
Many thanks to Big City But Tess and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Mike Bond continues his America series with book two, Freedom. Mick, Daisy, Troy and Tara are in their 20s, living in the 1960s. Troy is fighting in Vietnam while Mick is leading anti-war efforts at home. Tara is a rock star, playing music….and shooting heroin. And Daisy? She’s knee deep in neuroscience research - with the assistance of LSD.

As I’ve said before, Mike Bond is a phenomenal writer. He’s lived an extraordinary life and it shows on every page. With years of journalism experience, he leaves no stone unturned, pulls no punches. Bond is one of the most talented writers of our time and at least so far, the America series is a masterpiece.

I cannot recommend this series highly enough, especially if you are interested in history or politics. I am really looking forward to Heart, the third book in the series.

Thanks to Mike Bond, Meryl Moss, Big City Press, and Netgalley for this ARC in return for my honest review.

I didn't realize when I picked this up that it was the second in the series. There are four main characters and maybe I would understand their motivations more if I had read book #1. The prose was kind of choppy, almost like a stream of consciousness. At one point when Mick was trying to get out of Jakarta it felt kind of anticlimactic. People being murdered all around him, he sneaks onto a ferry with no money but it was all of four pages maybe. I had looked forward to this. The 60's were my high school years and I thought it would be interesting to read about the things going on around me at that time. There were a couple of raw and gritty statements involving the sex act and Daisy that really triggered me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Big City Press for providing me with my copy.

I had a tough time with this book. It is all over the place. I didn't know it was second in a series. I had no idea where Daisy fit in and wondered if I had skipped a section. Too much sex and drugs. Too many 60s people in it for no reason like Bobby Kennedy and Tim Leary. When I finally finish, I realize that its a cliffhanger. Sad part is I don't care to find out what happens.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this.

"...the delicate dark mode of her c**t" is a sentence I never want to read ever again. And for that matter, I never want to read anything else by Mike Bond. Knowing that there will be 5 more volumes of this nonsense hurts my soul.

I'm going to keep this brief because there really isn't much to say. Everything that made the first volume unbearable is amplified here, except now all of our characters are so crucially important to historical events that it's just fallen into fanfiction territory at this point (with Bobby Kennedy being shoehorned in as a side character).

Every other page (it felt like) is dedicated to some sort of awkward, poorly written sex scene that does nothing for the story. It's there to make the already boring story seem more interesting than it actually is.

If you've read any war novel or watched any movie that takes place during the Vietnam War, you can skip this because every cliche and talking point is hit here to the nth degree. It's obnoxiously self centered.

I've been in a reading slump this year, at least when it comes to novels, but now that I know this is finally finished I can rest easy and hopefully pick something up that's worthwhile.

Thanks again to Big City Press and NetGalley for providing me a digital copy of this novel.

A beautifully written, thoughtful book delving into the price of freedom, the corruption of man and the pain of war.

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This story blasts the reader back to the Sixties: LSD, Vietnam, free love, Jim Morrison, Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and draft dodgers. It is filled with hate and disappointment and travels all over the world with a frenzied anti-war message. This book will appeal to readers who want to view the underbelly of America and Vietnam during this turbulent decade.

I had to DNF this book which is something I rarely do. I had a very hard time getting into it and eventually I gave up. It's simply not for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Big City Press for the opportunity to review this book.

Interesting take on the Vietnam war. This was not my usual type of read, but I did find parts of it very interesting and sad.