Never Fade Away
William Hart
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2002 Fithian Press
ISBN: 1564743861

At a state university in the mid-1980s Los Angeles, freshman English routinely turns ethnic minority & immigrant students into ex-students, until an untenured instructor bucks the system.

Sr. Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

William Hart, in his debut work, presents an absorbing & touching story of an unusual relation between a teacher & his student, a relationship which fringes on the borders of romance -- but is never romantic in the traditional sense of the term.

Never Fade Away is a wholly believable story with fallible but truly heroic protagonists. A great story of friendship, of self-discovery & self- understanding.

It's 1985, & Tina Le, a Vietnamese student has just signed up for an ESL language course in a California college. Life is hard for Tina, who finds adjusting to a new culture difficult, especially the new language & a hostile environment, where the memories of the Vietnam War are still fresh in many minds.

John Goddard, her writing teacher & a war veteran, is still haunted by his bitter experiences in Vietnam. One day, Goddard reads a heartfelt story written by Tina. It is of her harrowing experiences in her homeland at the time of the war. Goddard is touched & impressed by Tina's talent, & he takes upon himself the task of developing & improving her potential.

Minter, the university administrator, however, is a bigot of the first order, & has another idea in mind. He intends to deliberately fail all ethnic minority students in the course, under the guise that they are not meritorious enough to pass. Goddard, who discovers this nefarious plan, objects vehemently & is fired. Goddard mobilizes students & the public against this injustice. Minter consistently maintains that there is no question of racial bias, & that merit is the only consideration. A Grievance Committee is called to check into the allegations, & in what follows is an almost courtroom-like hearing where the truths, the half-truths & the untruths are revealed.

The highlight of Never Fade Away is the flowing force of narration. Told in first person, (through entries in a personal journal) the author shifts focus from the precise & crisp language of Mr. Goddard, & the broken but almost poetic language of Tina Le -- almost like that seen in Amit Mathur in The Inscrutable Americans. Goddard reminded me of Hawkeye Pierce of MASH & the “Mashesque” effect is clearly felt throughout the book.

With just over a 200 pages Never Fade Away is an easy read, but at the same time, it offers a thoughtful & poignant story. A fantastic debut! I will surely want to reread it.
(04/14/02)

Narayan
2002©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org