The Standard Grand

The Standard Grand is a memorable American novel for our time, a meaningful shaggy dog story. I read it months ago, but find the plot and characters are fresh in my mind, which is very unusual!

The Standard Grand is a defunct upstate New York Catskills resort being used as an unofficial shelter for veteran soldiers. Mercenary corporate spies try to take over the resort, the vets survive by raising llamas and then a female vet off the streets of NYC is added to the mix. The whole situation is primed to explode, and it does, in a series of harrowing and hilarious episodes.

The Standard Grand is a generous character-driven adventure. It is an uncommon book, for those who enjoy getting to know a Dickensian cast of characters. Let the beginning of the book wash over you and before you know it you'll be wanting the story not to end.

I'm keen to read reviews of this book by soldiers/vets as there is a lot of military discussion in the book.

A Vietnam vet, vets from recent theatres of war, a deserter, civil rights, Alzheimer's, a run down holiday village in the Catskills, big business corruption and intimidation - sounds a lot to cram into one book. But it manages to also squeeze in a big cat mauling and death, a fair amount. This is a hard book to get into, you are literally thrown around from page to page for the first quarter or so, trying to keep track of characters and plots - although it does have a helpful index of the characters in the front. However, once you are past this and starting to click everything together this turns into a real mover, delving deep into how society treats its war veterans and although set in the US there are a lot of common themes which can be identified with a British reader about how we also see vets, and how there isn't enough assistance for them when they return, but also how, unless you've been there, its difficult to understand and realise the anguish and pain that returning soldiers have to work through to reintegrate. These strong characters are interwoven into a story, of war, love, hope and loss. Don't expect a happy ending, but don't expect a sad ending, just see how the book challenges and tests you. A great book, but not a light read, the one downside is quite a few military acronyms are used which really would be helpful to be footnoted at the bottom of the page with their meaning, that and a map of the Grande site would help with visualisation. But apart from that I'm very glad I persevered.

Thumbs up for this debut novel by Jay Baron Nicorvo. Nicorvo bravely chooses to be a man writing women to great success. Finally, a novel that discusses women in combat. While this novel addresses issues dealing with military veterans, it is more ambitious than that. Nicorvo takes on fracking, corporate greed and a little big brother paranoia. A recommended read by a highly talented new novelist on the scene.