Bolt Risk
Issue #26
by Ann Wood
By Mia Horberg
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 3:48pm
Have you ever had an acquaintance tell a really long story that ended up being thought provoking but took so long to get there that you lost interest before it got good? That’s how I felt while reading Ann Wood’s debut novel, Bolt Risk.
The plot centers on the recurring drama of being young in L.A., having lots of meaningless sex, and doing hardcore drugs. The nameless main character comes from a middle-class family, attended a prestigious East Coast university and upon moving west finds trouble and falls in love with the “wrong boy.” With short, sometimes incomplete sentences devoid of description, she hurriedly pulls you through her back-story of one-night stands and violence over and over again so that almost every chapter is self-reflexive. It felt like listening to a nihilist with ADD whose biggest fear is being “obvious.” I wanted her to become a little more obvious and less blasé.
It is when the protagonist is forcibly committed to a co-ed version of the psychiatric institution á la Girl Interrupted that Wood’s writing transforms from fragments into a connected train of thought. It is here that Wood slows down the narrative and gives the story depth and detail. Through the process, the protagonist gradually emerges as tangible and relatable. We are taken into her mind when she compares the love-hate relationship with her father to that of her relationship with Adam, the only man she can see herself with. She also shows signs of benevolence to a younger boy in the ward.
While Bolt Risk improves from its sensationalist beginnings, the scenes in the psych ward did not save it. To some, the novel might seem shocking and cutting-edge. But you can only drop the F-bomb so many times before it loses its meaning.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Bolt Risk (Leapfrog Press)
By Ann Wood
140 pages
List Price: $14.95
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