Jan 8, 2004

ON MY BOOKSHELF

“Skipped Parts”
By Tim Sandlin

Vanessa Valiente, 21, dramatist, costume design student

Almaden local Vanessa Valiente knows drama. The 2000 Leland High School graduate attends San Diego State University, where she recently switched her major emphasis from marketing to theatre.

Valiente is concentrating on costume design for film, planning to eventually pursue a career choosing actors’ outfits.

“It’s the only thing I can do,” admits Valiente, concerning her talents for fashion. “I think it’s instinct.”

Recently, while working as a tired stagehand for San Diego State’s production of William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” Valiente found time to read Tim Sandlin’s, “Skipped Parts.”

Sandlin, a Wyoming native, chooses dark incidents to illustrate the light-hearted humor present in any situation.

The main character, Sam Callahan, and his mother, Lydia, are banished to the hick town of GroVont, Wyo., by Lydia’s demanding father, Casper.

Despite living unconventional lifestyles, Lydia and Sam remain slaves to Casper’s wishes, moving from town to town since Lydia was 15, the year Sam was born.

Casper sponsors the moves, hoping each time that the change of scenery will forge a new and improved lifestyle for his only daughter and grandson.

Sandlin tells the story in a first-person narrative, out of Sam’s perspective. The book centers around Sam’s account of his own experiences, detailing the untutored madness of an adolescent reared by a fellow adolescent.

“The book was good,” says Valiente. “But it is probably not for everyone. Some of the incidents are quite raunchy.”

Despite that, Valiente draws a parallel between her own life and the life of Sam Callahan.

“A lot of times it seems like the adult world will tell you ‘you have to brush your teeth and that you must go to school,’ but they skip the parts about how to really live your life,” said Valiente. “Nobody can explain how someone else’s emotions work. Nobody tells you the truth about what is really right or wrong. I can empathize with Sam and the individual thought process one must go through when left to their own accord.”

- By Justin Petersen