What Ever - A Living Novel

The novel is the print version of an epic one-woman show that Woodbury performs on stage. The author deftly sketches her diverse crew of characters, bringing them to vivid life almost entirely through dialogue. It's easy to imagine that the work makes for a mesmerizing piece of performance art

As a novel, though, it can be challenging. The characters speak in an assortment of accents, idioms, and slang that show off Woodbury's astute ear for language patterns, but that can be distracting for the reader. Also, with so many divergent story lines, it's easy to lose the flow of the story

Still, for readers willing to put in the work, the novel rewards with a snapshot of the American psyche that is at once intimate and sprawling ~ Karen Holt