{"id":8281,"date":"2015-11-19T10:59:01","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T15:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cemeterydanceonline.com\/?p=6890"},"modified":"2015-11-19T10:59:01","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T15:59:01","slug":"review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: &#039;At the Lazy K&#039; by Gene O&#039;Neill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Lazy-Allevon-Volume-Gene-ONeill\/dp\/0996149309\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><em><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-6891\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/LazyK-187x300.jpg?resize=187%2C300\" alt=\"LazyK\" width=\"187\" height=\"300\" \/>At the Lazy K<\/em>\u00a0by\u00a0Gene O&#8217;Neill<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Written Backwards\u00a0(May 2015)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>162\u00a0pages; $10.00\u00a0paperback<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Reviewed by\u00a0W.D. Gagliani<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All the best storytellers get it done without verbal fireworks. In fact, too much style can easily get in the way of the story \u2013 in part sparseness is what makes hardboiled fiction still work so well decades after it was written. While it\u2019s not in the hardboiled vein, Gene O\u2019Neill\u2019s novella <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the Lazy K<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a good example of the simple art of storytelling. It\u2019s not as easy to do as it looks, but when it works it should look easy. O\u2019Neill always does well with common man narrators and\/or characters, presenting events from their perspective with an old-fashioned street-smart approach that\u2019s winningly convincing.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The novella is set on a California ranch that in its past has been used as a brothel by Judge Tarkenton and the colorful madam, Mama Pajama. It begins with a historical vignette in which a theft, an accusation, and an impromptu and, arguably, not legal \u201ctrial\u201d lead to a botched verdict and an outright execution: a racially-motivated murder by hanging in the big tree in front of the bunkhouse. But the Indian barman hanged that day wasn\u2019t guilty, nor was he an Indian, and a curse was placed upon the Tarkenton family.<\/p>\n<p>A \u201cscrapbook\u201d section tells some of the family\u2019s fate, and it\u2019s clear that fire plays a large role. In the present, however, the ranch has become a boutique addiction rehab facility, and to launch the business an offbeat collection of addicts and alcoholics has convened. One of them is a well-known writer, of course, and the clear protagonist of the novella\u2019s third act, in which the present and the past of the Tarkenton family collide with horrific yet cathartic effect.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gene O\u2019Neill brings a well-controlled soft touch to what is essentially an old-fashioned revenge tale, managing to draw positive portrayals of the current-day flawed patients, and drawing parallels to the past about addiction, redemption, guilt, and perhaps even to ambition itself. The cleansing qualities of fire provide a sort of healing, both to the property and to the people who have come there ostensibly to heal and atone. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the Lazy K<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> may be a short novella, but like a sacrificial pool it\u2019s deeper than it appears. The package by Written Backwards is attractive, with very nice illustrations by L.A. Spooner. Fans of Gene O\u2019Neill will love this, and so will anyone who stumbles onto it and allows it to work its quiet magic.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the Lazy K\u00a0by\u00a0Gene O&#8217;Neill Written Backwards\u00a0(May 2015) 162\u00a0pages; $10.00\u00a0paperback Reviewed by\u00a0W.D. Gagliani All the best storytellers get it done without verbal fireworks. In fact, too much style can easily get in the way of the story \u2013 in part sparseness is what makes hardboiled fiction still work so well decades after it was written. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: &#039;At the Lazy K&#039; by Gene O&#039;Neill&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[500,42,501,79,407,502],"class_list":["post-8281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-at-the-lazy-k","tag-featured","tag-gene-oneill","tag-reviews","tag-w-d-gagliani","tag-written-backwards"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: &#039;At the Lazy K&#039; by Gene O&#039;Neill - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Review: &#039;At the Lazy K&#039; by Gene O&#039;Neill\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-11-19T15:59:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":444,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/review-at-the-lazy-k-by-gene-oneill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/cemeterydanceonline.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/LazyK-187x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"At the Lazy K\",\"Featured\",\"Gene O'Neill\",\"Reviews\",\"W.D. 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