Grand Central Publishing
388 Pages
Sometimes I grab a book off the shelf at the Lockport Public Library with an inner dialogue yammering incessantly. To be fair, my inner dialogues are a lot like JD’s on Scrubs, but with more music. When I first picked up Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner, my head burst into laughter. Why would I read this book? It seems weird. I put it back on the shelf and walked away to look at other books. After perusing several, that voice begged me to go back. Go back!. I picked it up again. I re-read the summary and realized that this would absolutely be a book I’d love to read. I saw it as possibly being a microcosm of our political world as a whole right now. Boy, am I glad that I went back for this book.
As this book begins, a drunken Colton Gentry is booed off the stage at one of his country concerts. He can’t help but run his mouth more with his whiskey muscles firmly in control. A previous statement he made about guns has alienated his mostly right-wing fans. They abandon him in droves and turn to heckling and threatening him. He is kicked off the tour only to find that his perfect Hollywood, or in this case Nashville, marriage is in shambles and past the point of no return. Head hanging low, he returns to the town where he grew up, and where he used to be a hero. But his words curse him to sidelong glances and protests. Salvation comes in the form of forgiveness from someone he wronged in the past. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll leave it at that for now.
This book was amazing. It explored the trials and tribulations of fame and its fragility. Fans are finicky and will abandon you in a heartbeat if you dare to think outside their narrow minded boxes. This doesn’t help Colton’s already fragile ego. A lifetime of disappointment has made him the disheveled man we meet in the novel. He is unprepared for failure even though he’s been living it most of his life, with occasional flashes of brilliance. The whole book details a man struggling to overcome his own shortcomings.
If I had one critical note, it would be the fact that Colton wallowed so much in his own ineptitude. He did nothing with his fleeting fame to help those who were the victims of gun violence. He did nothing to save his career. He gave up too easily to move onto something new. That is a problem in this country right now. We give up too easily on things. In essence, Zentner captures this, but then doesn’t use it to show how we can change for the better. He doesn’t funnel those energies into something positive. Other than that, which is minor, this book was an amazing one.
I couldn’t put this book down once I started reading it. I stayed up well past my normal lights off moment at night so I could finish it. It was zipped through in one sitting. I loved it that much, even when I wanted to slap Colton for not standing up for his convictions and making poor excuse after poor excuse for his lot in life, without making the effort to better himself much. Still, the results of his continued poor choices echo throughout the book and deliver him to his “third act” in life. From his high school days through his music stardom and his downfall, Colton Gentry’s is a tale that needs to be told. At points the reader will want to support Colton. At other points, they will want to slap some sense into him. Isn’t that what makes a good book? The alternating feelings about the characters? Generating any emotional response to a fictional character makes for a great book. That’s why I loved Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner. You will too.
Craig Bacon’s first act was a normal 9-to-5. His second act was parenthood. His third act? Chaos.