Ellie’s Book Review – Where The Green Star Falls by William Jack Stephens

5/5 Stars!

What gives you pleasure? If you are a thrill-needer who finds pleasure primarily in a tsunami of action and suspense, then Where The Green Star Falls is not for you. Go with Lee Child and Jack Reacher, and enjoy the ride. But if you can find beauty, pleasure and peace in riding a long gentle wave that moves you inexorably but slowly towards the shore you crave – read Where the Green Star Falls.

There is little external action here – the plot is moved along by the evolution of perception in Nico, the protagonist, as he encounters grief and through it, moves away from the superficial goal-driven life-style that had made him a wealthy and “successful” business power. His ragged, long-term metamorphosis plays out against the stunning backdrop of the wilds of Patagonia. Though I have never been there, author William Jack Stephens presents it so vividly that it felt like I had somehow become an avid fly-fisherman. And though I generally shun books whose blurbs shout about “transformation” – I have never read anything before Where the Green Star Falls that convinced me of the potential for grief to be transformative.

This is not a big book, but to my eye, it is a small, perfect one. I wish you the enjoyment I found in it.