I just finished reading "The Salem Branch" last night. In many ways I found it beguiling, though yes, Ms. Parker does give the impression that she hits the old Thesaurus as frequently as
[spoiler]some of the characters, both the DS and her own, took hits of illegal pharmaceuticals[/spoiler]
My understanding is that she was combining some memories of her personal experiences with the unworldly hippie culture and the otherworldly DS. That's a fair gambit and some of it works, like some of "Angelique's Descent" worked, whether or not you agree with the premise of mixing real-world situations with purely DS situations. Her use of psychological insight in both was close to the mark, IMO; however the second book has some problems aside from inaccuracies in detailing the seasonal changes of Maine.
There was some spotty editing--- one of the hippy girls' names switches back and forth in the same chapter, for example. OK, perhaps that's forgiveable--- though this is almost half the length of AD, one would think that would have been easy to cull out. But to me, there seemed a confusing sequence of events where it should seem that
[spoiler]Barnabas should have recognized, or acknowledged exactly who David's new girlfriend is[/spoiler]
but whether that's intentional or due to
[spoiler]all the free-wheeling drugging of even the Collins characters[/spoiler]
one can't be sure. Also, I thought at first, that Ms. Parker had somehow confused Carolyn with HALLIE STOKES---
[spoiler]in one of the early 1971 chapters, she refers to both David and Carolyn as "children"[/spoiler]
though later it IS clarified. Not too thrilled with Carolyn's portrayal here in any case.
Also, I realize Ms. Parker was highly influenced by her visits to Salem in recent years, but were ALL those cheesy-sounding attractions around in 1971? And why no mention of something classic like the House of Seven Gables for that matter? (Heck, they mentioned THAT on "Bewitched", way back in the day.)
Plus, IMO, the sections that parallel the witch trials
[spoiler]with a SWAT-style raid on the hippy encampment[/spoiler]
bear a lot of quite up-to-date politically-correct influence.... I say no more, but you'll probably catch my drift.
Also, it would have paid for Ms. Parker to review the old episodes BEFORE she launched her description of 1692's Miranda Du Val because:
[spoiler]for reasons unknown, Miranda is described as having long, lush BLACK hair, a'la Cassandra perhaps, while in the series, Ms. Parker retained her blonde locks, modestly contained in a Puritan bonnet, in those scenes[/spoiler]
This is clearly shown in a screen cap on Lara's own offiical website!!! Not to mention Miranda's ultimate fate, which, if you've watched the series through, I don't have to recap with spoiler warnings here... Maybe to make the story even more in line with what would appear to be socio-political agenda....
However, while I also disagree with her portrayal of Quentin's character---
[spoiler]It's SO pre-1897 flashback![/spoiler]
perhaps because I like tweaking the storylines lines in some twisted ways, I did like how the various love stories played out. I appreciated the irony of the resolution
[spoiler]of Barnabas's treatments--- actually this would explain in part, how Julia might have formulated them--- AND his love life[/spoiler]
though to be honest, IMO, it might make future sequels---- DIFFICULT!
However, in strict justice, it IS a helluva lot better than "Hawkes Harbor"....
