Just finished Lee Cole's 'Groundskeeping' and wow—this book is a mood. It's like if a coming-of-age story had a lovechild with a political thinkpiece, but somehow still felt cozy.

First off, the prose? Gorgeous. There's a scene where the narrator describes a falling tree as having a 'whale song' creak. Who thinks like that? Lee Cole, apparently. Also, as someone who's moved cities chasing 'better opportunities,' Owen's struggle between roots and ambition hit way too close to home.

That said, Alma lowkey annoyed me. Girl ghosted our boy for being poor, then came crawling back? Ma’am, this is a Wendy’s. But maybe that’s the point—love makes us tolerate nonsense.

Bonus: The John Wayne rant made me LOL. Not sure if Cole’s right, but the audacity to drag a Hollywood legend mid-novel? Iconic chaos.

TL;DR: Read it for the lyrical writing, stay for the messy relationships. 4/5 stars—would’ve been 5 if Alma had better taste in men (aka Owen deserved better).