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Call Me When You Land

Michael Schiavone
The Permanent Press (2011)
ISBN 9781579622213
Reviewed by Tia Bach for RebeccasReads (7/11)

Katie is raising her fifteen-year-old son C.J. all by herself. His dad, Craig, walked out years before, too overcome by his own demons to raise a child. When Craig dies, C.J. receives his inheritance: a Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle. Katie is terrified, C.J. is intrigued. Their strained relationship is further tested.

Katie loves her son, but is struggling to reach him. On the brink of artistic success, she spirals into the abyss of poor choices and low self-esteem.  Her sister, Caroline, cares but her hard shell makes showing affection almost impossible. Katie, just as hardened, only seems to process her life when she’s drunk; sobering up means clamming up. The depth of her sickness is exemplified when a cop pulls her over for drunk driving, “A woman your age shouldn’t be driving around drunk. You say you have a son? I’d be horrified if my mother was out and about like this.” Even when reality smacks her in the face, Katie has an arsenal of excuses and surrounds herself with enablers.

C.J. initially seems like a punk teenager who needs discipline. He’s angry and rebellious, but he lives under the cloud of his mother’s addiction and the knowledge that his father abandoned him. After a particularly revealing confrontation with his mom, C.J. takes off on his Harley searching for answers. He and his mom come back to each other in a very real way; the healing process guaranteed to be as flawed as their history.

Schiavone spins a heartbreaking tale of alcohol, drugs and self-destruction. What this author does so well is build a framework, revealing pieces of the characters’ backgrounds in digestible amounts. Just when I thought I knew a character, the author dug deeper. There was rarely a wasted word, and that’s the highest compliment I can give as a reader.
Beautifully written and well-edited, the author reels you in with methodical care. There is no time to come up for air, and you don’t want to. It’s gripping and real, but there’s hope. Lesser characters would have been crushed by their circumstances, but Schiavone gives his an impressive strength to endure. I highly recommend adding this book to your must-read list. I only wish I could borrow Schiavone’s mastery of language long enough to compel you to read "Call Me When You Land"

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