Adult nonfiction/memoir. Brandon Schrand writes beautifully about his adventures growing up in a run-down hotel with his grandparents. Former boom town Soda Springs is not what it once was, and his family kindly takes in all sorts of people who are down on their luck, allowing them to barter or work for a few days' shelter. Thus it is that Brandon meets drifter after drifter after drifter after drifter...

This narrative isn't uninteresting, but lacks a plot--the characters never hang around long enough to make much trouble--and thus the book grows tedious after a while. I didn't finish it, but skimmed the last half and read bits of the end. I do not, at this point, have a very high opinion of the river teeth literary nonfiction prize, whatever that is. ( )

Story about a boy growing up in the early 60's in the west. Explains how alcoholism can ruin lives. ( )

Compelling tale of growing up in the 80s. I read a lot of memoirs, looking for ideas, maybe, since I've written a few myself. Most of them are written by people around my own age (64) or older. But this one is different. Brandon Schrand isn't even forty yet, but he has written one of the most readable, page-turning memoirs I have run across in the past five years. His story is not always a happy one, coming as he does from a family with a long tradition of being torn by divorces and re-marriages, alcoholism and AA, and occasional explosions of real violence. It is more than just the story of one lonely only-child coming of age in a dead-end town in southeast Idaho. It is also the story of that hard-working and hardscrabble extended family. Raised as much by his grandparents (a step-grandfather), as by his parents (a step-father), Brandon spent much of his childhood watching and waiting for his real father to show up, studying the faces and mannerisms of strangers who drifted in and out of the Enders Hotel, a place where lives often dead-ended that was run by this family in Soda Springs, Idaho. Growing up among two generations of reformed alcoholics is hard enough, but Schrand also watches the slow deterioration (from emphysema) of the health of his beloved step-grandfather, who calls him "the Brat", but loves him unreservedly. His step-father is a rather short-fused electrician who bounces between jobs throughout Idaho and the northwest, but always comes back to the Enders when the jobs run out ... But hey, I'm not gonna tell you the whole story. You gotta read it for yourself. I really liked this kid. In fact I think I was first really sucked into his story when I figured out he's nearly the same age as my younger son, who, like Schrand, was/is a big metal head and a particular fan of Vince Neil and the Crue. (Hey kid, they have a new album!) I gotta get Schrand and my kid together. I'll bet they'd have lots to talk about. Schrand also tells of how there were seven Brandons in his second grade class. Another coincidence: my son's middle name is Brandon, and I've already told him about The Enders Hotel. Lemme put it this way: if you're roughly between the ages of 35 and 40 and only read a few books a year, make sure this is one of them. I guarantee you'll love it! I know I did. This kid can write! ( )