A Year in the Company of Freaks

If you don’t know what you’re getting into with this book, this is one of those titles that will pleasantly surprise you.

After the death of his parents, Sid Jackson is placed on probation for growing pot. Part of his rehabilitation, in addition to stipulations set up in his parents’ will, includes Sid staying on the family farm, which forces him to make the old farm into a boarding house. And so begins a topsy turvey year as five extremely unalike people change one another’s lives forever.

A Year in the Company of Freaks is disarmingly appealing and subtle in it’s approach. While the book does have it’s rough edges in terms of narrative, it never acts pretentious with it’s characters or the story it’s trying to tell. The author lets the story tell itself and doesn’t try to tell the reader what to think about the people or the circumstances of the day, let alone try to glamorize the 1970s. Instead, she focuses on issues such as brutal abortions, the state of high feeling among youth, the anger over the war, and uses the space to explore the depth of the human heart. As it relates the complicated clash of culture and counterculture, Freaks acts as an authentic, strongly Seventies book, that very much reflects the attitude and mood of the times. It doesn’t stretch beliefs, but rather lets the reader get caught up in the lives of the “freaks” of this story as they come vividly to life. Northern California works as a strong presence in the novel that is vivid and omnipresent, but never overwhelming. The house also feels like a character, with the shadow of Sid’s parents flashing in and out of the edges, ever-present yet seldom on-screen. Teresa Neumann’s unassuming book will have it’s digs in you before you realize how involved you’ve become. This is a subtle book that is sure to intrigue and entertain readers.