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A Well-Respected Man
SOCIETY OF MIDLAND AUTHORS HONOREE, 2019 -- Adult Fiction Professor Martin Gregory is a respected Chicago writer. After falling in love with a student and eventually losing both her and his job, he moves to the English countryside to re-balance his life.
A love affair with one of his students derails his career and breaks his heart. Coming to terms with a life knocked off balance, Martin retreats to a quiet English village, only to be confronted at his flat by a mystery woman with an unexpected message and an implausible request, one that could alter his life forever.
A cross-country train trip, a visit to his father's grave, and a re-examination of a deep loss will eventually reveal either Martin's greatest character or unearth his most heartbreaking flaw.
A Well-Respected Man is about the hard choices we make to find fulfillment, and the search to discover meaning in both the life we choose and the one thrust upon us.
"Award-winning author David W. Berner intertwines complex timelinesin effortless fashion while creating characters of great depth. Typicalof Berner's work, the reader is left to contemplate life's toughestdecisions. A Well-Respected Man is a must read!" -Geralyn Hessalu Magrady, author of the award-winning historical novel, Lines "
"Thought-provoking ... a story of how love never goes away." -Nancy W. Sindelar, Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Illinois
Publisher's //sbprabooks.com/DavidWBerner
A love affair with one of his students derails his career and breaks his heart. Coming to terms with a life knocked off balance, Martin retreats to a quiet English village, only to be confronted at his flat by a mystery woman with an unexpected message and an implausible request, one that could alter his life forever.
A cross-country train trip, a visit to his father's grave, and a re-examination of a deep loss will eventually reveal either Martin's greatest character or unearth his most heartbreaking flaw.
A Well-Respected Man is about the hard choices we make to find fulfillment, and the search to discover meaning in both the life we choose and the one thrust upon us.
"Award-winning author David W. Berner intertwines complex timelinesin effortless fashion while creating characters of great depth. Typicalof Berner's work, the reader is left to contemplate life's toughestdecisions. A Well-Respected Man is a must read!" -Geralyn Hessalu Magrady, author of the award-winning historical novel, Lines "
"Thought-provoking ... a story of how love never goes away." -Nancy W. Sindelar, Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Illinois
Publisher's //sbprabooks.com/DavidWBerner
184 pages, Hardcover
Published January 4, 2018
About the author
David W. Berner
20 books93 followersDavid W. Berner is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, author, and teacher. As a writer, he has been the recipient of awards from the prestigious Society of Midland Authors and the Chicago Writers Association. David has more than forty years experience in broadcast journalism as a reporter, anchor, news director, and program director. He regularly contributes to the CBS Radio Network and has contributed to public radio stations around the country, including NPR’s Weekend edition.
David has also performed live literature readings at 2nd Story, Essay Fiesta, Waterline Writers, and Sunday Salon. And regularly conducts workshops on writing and memoir.
David has also performed live literature readings at 2nd Story, Essay Fiesta, Waterline Writers, and Sunday Salon. And regularly conducts workshops on writing and memoir.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 13, 2018
The book is a fast-paced read that picks up steam as the main character travels cross-country by train trying to sort out a decision that will determine the course of the rest of his life. As the main character gets closer to his destination, the story becomes more frantic... and leaves you wanting more. Sign me up for the sequel.
March 19, 2018
A Well Respected Man by David W Berner
From the opening paragraph I knew I was going to enjoy this book, and enjoy it I did - enormously. However, (nothing to do with the book) I read the story on my ipad, which gave no indication of the length of the book or how far along I was, and I was flying along totally engrossed in the conundrum facing the main protagonist, a likable man called Martin Gregory, and wondering what decision he was going to arrive at when, quite unexpectedly (to me) the story ended. ' Oh no! 'I cried. I wanted more. Should I have been surprised? Certainly I didn't want it to end, but then on reflection, maybe that is the skill of the author, leaving the reader guessing and shrieking for more. In following Martin, a Teacher, author, musician and above all a well-respected man, we see a character forced to delve into memories of his childhood, and a heart-breaking love affair from his youth before confronting life from a different angle. Maybe the author will write a sequel? Please. A highly recommended read.
March 23, 2018
“Mr. Martin Gregory? “I believe you have written about my life. I hope that I may speak with you.”
Having read and been deeply moved by David's ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE, this reader wrote the following: ‘Chicago author David W. Berner has been around the block - he is an award-winning journalist, writer, documentarian, and an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago where he teaches Writing for Radio, Radio Storytelling, and Radio/Audio Documentary in the Radio Department at CCC. His essays and his books are highly respected and highly consumed. His honors includes Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida, the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Illinois, and has been recognized for his literary and artistic achievements by the Chicago Public Library Foundation at the 2016 Carl Sandburg Literary Awards. In his words, `I first experienced how important a writing space could be when I was given the opportunity to be the writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida. It's the modest home he lived with his mother after all the attention of On the Road, and where he wrote The Dharma Bums. The three-month experience of writing in such a revered place, allowed for a renewed attention to "place" in a story. Setting can be as much a character in a work as the voices heard in those spaces. When I started writing Any Road Will Take You There: A Journey of Fathers and Sons, my memoir of a 5000-mile road trip and the struggles and triumphs of fatherhood, I rediscovered the importance of space, setting, and place. Where the story happens, why it happens in that location, in that house, on that road is crucial to the story. Each of the stops along the long journey in Any Road Will Take You There evokes a memory, a moment that fuels the trip and the story. Just like the places where I write, the places in my stories have meaning, something true and honest and revealing.'
David’s new novel is equally impressive, that rare combination of involving story with philosophical questions of how we travel through life with the many interruptions and split second decisions that alter our journey. As the synopsis distills: ` Professor Martin Gregory is a respected Chicago writer. After falling in love with a student and eventually losing both her and his job, he moves to the English countryside to re-balance his life. Is his character strong enough to confront what he discovers there, or will he run from his biggest challenge? Chicago Professor Martin Gregory is the author of a critically acclaimed novel of love and longing, a cult favorite among women. The book brings him unexpected status and prestige, but also unwelcome fame. A love affair with one of his students derails his career and breaks his heart. Coming to terms with a life knocked off balance, Martin retreats to a quiet English village, only to be confronted at his flat by a mystery woman with an unexpected message and an implausible request, one that could alter his life forever. A cross-country train trip, a visit to his father's grave, and a re-examination of a deep loss will eventually reveal either Martin's greatest character or unearth his most heartbreaking flaw. A Well-Respected Man is about the hard choices we make to find fulfillment, and the search to discover meaning in both the life we choose and the one thrust upon us.'
An element that is a constant in David's writing is his enormous sense of humanity. He is as much a philosopher of the porch swing variety as anyone writing today. Read, smile, think, read again and enjoy. Highly Recommended.
Having read and been deeply moved by David's ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE, this reader wrote the following: ‘Chicago author David W. Berner has been around the block - he is an award-winning journalist, writer, documentarian, and an associate professor at Columbia College Chicago where he teaches Writing for Radio, Radio Storytelling, and Radio/Audio Documentary in the Radio Department at CCC. His essays and his books are highly respected and highly consumed. His honors includes Writer-in-Residence at the Jack Kerouac Project in Orlando, Florida, the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Illinois, and has been recognized for his literary and artistic achievements by the Chicago Public Library Foundation at the 2016 Carl Sandburg Literary Awards. In his words, `I first experienced how important a writing space could be when I was given the opportunity to be the writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida. It's the modest home he lived with his mother after all the attention of On the Road, and where he wrote The Dharma Bums. The three-month experience of writing in such a revered place, allowed for a renewed attention to "place" in a story. Setting can be as much a character in a work as the voices heard in those spaces. When I started writing Any Road Will Take You There: A Journey of Fathers and Sons, my memoir of a 5000-mile road trip and the struggles and triumphs of fatherhood, I rediscovered the importance of space, setting, and place. Where the story happens, why it happens in that location, in that house, on that road is crucial to the story. Each of the stops along the long journey in Any Road Will Take You There evokes a memory, a moment that fuels the trip and the story. Just like the places where I write, the places in my stories have meaning, something true and honest and revealing.'
David’s new novel is equally impressive, that rare combination of involving story with philosophical questions of how we travel through life with the many interruptions and split second decisions that alter our journey. As the synopsis distills: ` Professor Martin Gregory is a respected Chicago writer. After falling in love with a student and eventually losing both her and his job, he moves to the English countryside to re-balance his life. Is his character strong enough to confront what he discovers there, or will he run from his biggest challenge? Chicago Professor Martin Gregory is the author of a critically acclaimed novel of love and longing, a cult favorite among women. The book brings him unexpected status and prestige, but also unwelcome fame. A love affair with one of his students derails his career and breaks his heart. Coming to terms with a life knocked off balance, Martin retreats to a quiet English village, only to be confronted at his flat by a mystery woman with an unexpected message and an implausible request, one that could alter his life forever. A cross-country train trip, a visit to his father's grave, and a re-examination of a deep loss will eventually reveal either Martin's greatest character or unearth his most heartbreaking flaw. A Well-Respected Man is about the hard choices we make to find fulfillment, and the search to discover meaning in both the life we choose and the one thrust upon us.'
An element that is a constant in David's writing is his enormous sense of humanity. He is as much a philosopher of the porch swing variety as anyone writing today. Read, smile, think, read again and enjoy. Highly Recommended.
April 2, 2018
Professor Martin Gregory, who has found a fame he doesn't want from an unexpectedly popular book, makes a mistake that costs him dearly. An affair with one of his students pulls his world apart, and he seeks the solitude of a remote English village. Peace, however, will not come easily.
David's writing has a clarity which makes it easy for the reader to connect with his characters, and we quickly learn much about him - how he is detached from the success of his book, how brief fame did little to satisfy him, how he is tired of intrusion, how loneliness has enveloped him.
This is very visual writing, as if each scene is framed like a film noir (that's certainly how it played to me). The short, terse chapters move the story along at a brisk pace - solid editing here, keeping to the essentials, no padding.
I was also surprised by how much I could relate to the main character. The loss of a parent is felt particularly keenly at times of need, and we still turn to those who are gone for advice, for guidance. This is not my usual genre of choice, but I was very taken by how human a story this is.
This, then, is a reflection on love and loss, those most essential human failings that all of us can relate to.
Sometimes we have to confront the worst of ourselves in order to find the best.
A Well-Respected Man comes well recommended.
David's writing has a clarity which makes it easy for the reader to connect with his characters, and we quickly learn much about him - how he is detached from the success of his book, how brief fame did little to satisfy him, how he is tired of intrusion, how loneliness has enveloped him.
This is very visual writing, as if each scene is framed like a film noir (that's certainly how it played to me). The short, terse chapters move the story along at a brisk pace - solid editing here, keeping to the essentials, no padding.
I was also surprised by how much I could relate to the main character. The loss of a parent is felt particularly keenly at times of need, and we still turn to those who are gone for advice, for guidance. This is not my usual genre of choice, but I was very taken by how human a story this is.
This, then, is a reflection on love and loss, those most essential human failings that all of us can relate to.
Sometimes we have to confront the worst of ourselves in order to find the best.
A Well-Respected Man comes well recommended.
April 5, 2018
This is a moving story of a writer trying to find meaning in his life. The main character is a middle-aged man called, Martin, who - following a failed controversial romance with one of his students - quits his job as English professor at Elmhurst University near Chicago, and moves to England in an attempt to start afresh. He takes on a teaching position in the academy of Banbury, a small town in the south of England, and plays guitar in an amateur band. His past eventually catches up with him, though, when a young woman turns up asking to speak with him about his novel, Fire and Water, which had previously been a big hit.
The story's main intrigue is what is going to happen to Martin? Is he going to refind love or meaning in his life or sink into melancholy or madness.
I found the first two thirds of the book suspensful and intriguing; the final third verges on the melodramatic, but there is a satisfying ending. Overall a great read, which held my attention through its excellent prose and touching story.
Recommended for fans of the moody drama genre.
The story's main intrigue is what is going to happen to Martin? Is he going to refind love or meaning in his life or sink into melancholy or madness.
I found the first two thirds of the book suspensful and intriguing; the final third verges on the melodramatic, but there is a satisfying ending. Overall a great read, which held my attention through its excellent prose and touching story.
Recommended for fans of the moody drama genre.
March 20, 2018
A Man’s Story of Women. Or is it?
Martin, the well-respected man of the title, has run in annoyance from his fame from an early novel that made countless female literary groupies feel that he alone understood them, because he so well understood all women. Now, having fled the States and teaching in a British backwater, he is found again. But this time his yearning visitor turns out to be an emissary sent by someone from his past, with an outrageous request, one that will challenge everything he feels he knows about himself. Is he the man he assumes he is, or is he the man he invented on the page so long ago? Berner enlivens this innovative twist on a familiar story with novel-within-a-novel subtitles, surprising characters and…rock music. Enjoy.
Martin, the well-respected man of the title, has run in annoyance from his fame from an early novel that made countless female literary groupies feel that he alone understood them, because he so well understood all women. Now, having fled the States and teaching in a British backwater, he is found again. But this time his yearning visitor turns out to be an emissary sent by someone from his past, with an outrageous request, one that will challenge everything he feels he knows about himself. Is he the man he assumes he is, or is he the man he invented on the page so long ago? Berner enlivens this innovative twist on a familiar story with novel-within-a-novel subtitles, surprising characters and…rock music. Enjoy.
July 28, 2018
A Well Respected Man is deep.
It's been a while since I read anything like this. The author concentrated on the depth of the characters. He made sure we saw and understood the inner thoughts of Martin. He focused on the internal rather than what was happening on the external, and yet the narration was gripping.
This book is a simple, yet profound, tale of decisions we take and the choices available to us. It's about how the past always seem to weigh in on the future. How today is part of our past and also part of our future.
I was only expecting one death, Amelia's. So yes, I had my big surprise. It added character to the book.
I was kind of sad it ended where it did. Though satisfied, I was craving for more.
I love it!
It's been a while since I read anything like this. The author concentrated on the depth of the characters. He made sure we saw and understood the inner thoughts of Martin. He focused on the internal rather than what was happening on the external, and yet the narration was gripping.
This book is a simple, yet profound, tale of decisions we take and the choices available to us. It's about how the past always seem to weigh in on the future. How today is part of our past and also part of our future.
I was only expecting one death, Amelia's. So yes, I had my big surprise. It added character to the book.
I was kind of sad it ended where it did. Though satisfied, I was craving for more.
I love it!
July 28, 2018
A Well Respected Man is deep.
It's been a while since I read anything like this. The author concentrated on the depth of the characters. He made sure we saw and understood the inner thoughts of Martin. He focused on the internal rather than what was happening on the external, and yet the narration was gripping.
This book is a simple, yet profound, tale of decisions we take and the choices available to us. It's about how the past always seem to weigh in on the future. How today is part of our past and also part of our future.
I was only expecting one death, Amelia's. So yes, I had my big surprise. It added character to the book.
I was kind of sad it ended where it did. Though satisfied, I was craving for more.
I love it!
It's been a while since I read anything like this. The author concentrated on the depth of the characters. He made sure we saw and understood the inner thoughts of Martin. He focused on the internal rather than what was happening on the external, and yet the narration was gripping.
This book is a simple, yet profound, tale of decisions we take and the choices available to us. It's about how the past always seem to weigh in on the future. How today is part of our past and also part of our future.
I was only expecting one death, Amelia's. So yes, I had my big surprise. It added character to the book.
I was kind of sad it ended where it did. Though satisfied, I was craving for more.
I love it!
March 19, 2018
I definitely had difficulty putting A WELL-RESPECTED MAN down as I was enthralled with the character, Martin Gregory’s, love of music and words. Martin has a rich life of artistry. However, socially he seems to live in a cave.
In the past, Martin had a relationship that broke his heart so he ran away from life.
Ultimately, the appearance of an unknown woman forces Martin to re-analyze his life to consider whether he will come out of his shell and to make the most difficult decision of his life.
In the past, Martin had a relationship that broke his heart so he ran away from life.
Ultimately, the appearance of an unknown woman forces Martin to re-analyze his life to consider whether he will come out of his shell and to make the most difficult decision of his life.
April 20, 2018
Memoirist and essayist David W. Berner makes a seamless return to fiction with his contemplative, moving second novel, A Well-Respected Man. A hardback copy of Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses, sits unread on the nightstand of the novel’s middle-aged protagonist, Martin Gregory, who has settled into a comfortable life as a professor at a college in a quiet English village. A sense of complacency has set in for Martin, whose past includes a novel that had brought him mild fame and a love that he has left behind in Chicago. “He once wanted to make history with his prose,” we are told. But now a “certain sparked had dimmed. Desired routine had emerged.” When a mystery woman arrives at the door of his flat with an unexpected message and an implausible request, Martin is forced to confront his past and the choices he has made. Martin sets off on a journey of midlife discovery of just who that well-respected man really is. “The journey holds the answer,” he informs. For the reader it is a journey well worth taking – one that will make you contemplate your own life’s choices.
April 13, 2018
The writer's style is excellent, and the characters and setting are quite detailed. It's an easy book to read and get lost in. However, I couldn't get excited about the main character, and didn't get enough sense of the back story to be interested in his former love interest. Therefore, his reaction to her sudden "reappearance" seemed a bit off-kilter, and the ending was anticlimactic. Maybe the author will write a sequel so we can see what happens to these characters.
April 16, 2018
A two day train ride across the country gives Martin Gregory the time he needs to make a life-changing decision. Berner lets you in on the emotional telling of this well-respected man, with dialogue in all the right places, laying out a story where love may not necessarily be lost.
July 15, 2018
I wanted a faster storyline, with action and narrative to move the story forward, with a lot less telling (which I felt was unnecessary as Berner writes very well). I was ready, impatient to be hooked with a "ah-ha" moment as main character, middle-aged English professor Martin tries to find himself after an affair with a student and relocates to England. Reader, not to worry: Patience did win the day, due to Martin's intriguing dilemma and Berner's clever plot turn (no spoiler alerts!).
Thanks to the author for an opportunity to read this novel and to Goodreads for providing the means via its giveaway program.
Thanks to the author for an opportunity to read this novel and to Goodreads for providing the means via its giveaway program.
July 26, 2018
David Berner's interesting weave of mystery, self-examination, and subtle humor pulls taut in unexpected ways while the central character is surfing the shock waves of a revelation that has him at odds with himself and others. Reading in part like a diary, in part like a live story telling, Berner's voice is very clear and easy to identify with, though his character might be embroiled in circumstances far from one's own. The dialogue is loose and well paced and often funny, and there are several secondary characters who are quite entertaining...those who are not stalking him. This was a book I read in two sittings. Berner's telling is swift and his language is quite unadorned, though it is obvious he has those skills, just likes to get to the meat of what is happening to the character. It was hard for me to buy into the actual circumstances the character finds himself in--that his estranged and dying ex-girlfriend wants him to adopt the baby she is about to have, one that is not his, however, truth is often stranger than fiction and in this fictional story, Berner's compelling style kept me hooked in.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews