The Honk and Holler Opening Soon

Billie Letts makes you fall in love with her characters. You get to know the characters and you miss them when the book is finished.

I wish that Billie Letts wrote more books. I love everything she has written.

This book wouldn't let me get anything else done. I kept going back to it, wanting to be part of the regular crowd at the Honk and Hollar. Billie Letts does a great job of getting to the heart of what makes the people in our lives matter. She uses a diverse group and brings them together in the Honk and Hollar to show us how different, yet how alike we all are. Give this a read, it will make you wish you could stop in for a cup of coffee.

Since I first read this book fifteen years ago, it has remained one of my favorites. About every five years, I re-read it around the holidays. It is comfortable and familiar, and warms me with memories every time I open its pages. Since that first read, I've always declared it one of my favorite books. No matter how many times I read it, that never changes. I have even grown to love it more with time. I find myself drawn to the simple, pained characters, lit by the light of the Honk. They are flawed, but they are real. Their lives are interesting, even if the setting is simple and reminiscent of times gone by. Every time I open the book, I long to return to these characters, and every time I finish the book, I am saddened it has to end. Truly wonderful character development. It's not the plot of the story as much as it's the characters that I am happy to welcome into my heart.

This year, half way through my current read, I found out Billie Letts had passed away in 2014 and found myself profoundly saddened. Honk and Holler Opening Soon is one of my favorite books, period, but I have also greatly enjoyed Where the Heart Is and Made in the USA. (I didn't enjoy Letts' third novel, Shoot the Moon, although maybe I'll try it again someday). I am so sad to know there will be no more stories from a very talented story teller.

Billie Letts' second novel, The Honk and Holler Opening Soon, does not disappoint. Her characters are really people with real problems. Caney Paxton, who owns the cafe with the same name as the title of the book, came back from Vietnam in a wheelchair as a broken man. Molly O, like a second mother to Caney, works at the Honk and Holler and has since the day it opened. (She also hasn't taken a day off in ~12 years, so when she does get sick in the book, everyone is concerned, even the reader.) The lilt of her accent, the frenzy of her Christmas decorating at the start of the book, and the stories she shares make her immediately lovable as everyone's adopted auntie, and I couldn't help but feel for her as we see her relationship with her daughter unfold. The cafe regulars are a hoot! Billie Letts gives us small-town America with these people who are as real as the people we see every day.

Then one day, a woman shows up for a job, and not just any woman. She arrives with a 3-legged dog, raises Molly O's suspicions, and gets into Caney's heart, but she is not planning to stay and makes that very clear from the beginning. There is also the Vietnamese man who is on the lam from the police, raises Caney's suspicions, and gets into Molly O's heart (again, that adopted auntie thing), wants a job, can't cook, but repairs everything in sight.

I have been holding off reading this book, and it was a definite treat to open it and devour Letts' words and storytelling. I, too, found myself staying up late to read this. Letts' fans will not be disappointed.

I really debated between a four star rating and a five star, but decided a four was more appropriate.

I really, really enjoyed this book. I had the luxury of the time to read this since I had the piano tuner in the house for a big chunk of time and had to be very, very quiet while he worked. I am so glad that I wasn't pressed for time, because this book was difficult to put down once I started. I read the whole thing in about a day and a half.

There was a fair amount of misery and sad stories in this, but the writing style and the humor that Ms. Letts injected into the book kept it from being overly depressing. There were some very funny parts and I found myself grinning even with all of the trials and tribulations the characters endured. The main reason I chose not to give this book 5 stars was the fact that it felt disjointed at times and I would have liked to see serveral of the characters fleshed out a bit more. I think I would have prefered fewer secondary characters and more time spent on the smaller number.

The central location of the story is a diner in rural Oklahoma and the majority of the characters only come into the picture when the are physically in the diner. This device does keep the story moving and folks come in and out so that part works well. The writing is so good, that the main characters largely feel like people you know well and are so multi-faceted that I half expected to see Molly O as a waitress in the next restaurant I patronized.

I will definitely be putting Billie Letts on my "must read" list and am looking forward to other books by her since this was my first. "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon" reminded me of "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo which I LOVED, so this is high praise coming from me ....

Enjoy !

I was initially resistant to reading this book, no matter that I loved Billie Letts' first novel, _Where The Heart Is._ My hesitation, snobbishly, had to do with what I considered to be a "silly" title, somewhat like _Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle-Stop Cafe_ by Fannie Flagg. I only read THAT wonderful book after falling in love with the movie. You'd think I'd have learned.
_The Honk And Holler Opening Soon_ begins bleakly, introducing characters one by one, some of whom have yet to meet. Caney Paxton is a wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran and owner of the strangely-named diner (due to a drunken misunderstanding with the sign-maker). Molly O, a woman who helped to raise Caney and also helps him to run the cafe, is dreading Christmas without her country music-singing runaway daughter and is over-compensating by forcing Christmas cheer on Caney and the Holler's regulars. Vena Takes Horse, a beautiful young Crow woman and drifter, rescues an injured dog while thinking of her sister; and Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese immigrant, searches for a new home after an unfortunate car accident. Both Vena and Bui wind up at the Honk and Holler, turning the small-town Oklahoma diner into a veritable melting pot and the lives of Caney and Molly O upside down.
Letts brings to life even the book's more minor characters, causing the reader to feel part of a large and mixed-up extended family. The use of foreshadowing and symbolism might seem heavy-handed in a book of this type (an oriental-looking baby Jesus in Molly O's nativity display; a gelding terrified by the sound of gunshots), but instead lends magic and a not-unwelcome feeling of security due to fate (or the hand of a Higher Power) stepping in where it is most needed. There are a few minor faults, but they seemed insignificant as I was eventually unable to put the book down for fear the story would move on without me. As it catapults to its perfect conclusion, Letts' writing is sure to bring tears to more sensitive readers, including myself. _The Honk and Holler Opening Soon_ is not such a silly title after all, for the "opening soon" applies to the broadening of the characters' minds, the building of new lives, and the irrelevance of race in true caring and friendship. A feel-good story with a universal message, this book shouldn't disappoint anyone.

Billie Letts proves once again that she can evoke genuine human emotions from her small-town characters. As she did in her first novel, "Where the Heart Is," Billie Letts allows us to sit in on people we are glad to know and, by the end, we feel as if we made a few new friends. Her novel centers around Caney Paxton, a Vietnam vet, confined to a wheelchair, who opened a restaurant 10 years ago and has confined himself inside. A misunderstanding led to the neon sign outside his establishment to read "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon." "Opening Soon" was to have been placed below "The Honk and Holler" as to be removed once the place opened. Now it is the joke of the town as it is forever a part of the restaurants name. Several people become a part of Caney's life: Molly O, a long-time friend who helps not only with the restaurant as a waitress, but as a friend as well. Vena Take Horse who comes to the restaurant after fleeing from where she was. Bui Khanh, a Vietnamese, in search of a life. As in "Where The Heart Is" Billie Letts chooses interesting names for her characters which immediately draw you in to their being. Added to these characters are the regulars who frequent "The Honk and Holler" to eat and gossip.This novel is a wonderful work of art as Ms. Letts shows us that there are good, caring people out there eventhough one may feel that no one cares and that nothing is going right. And, after reading Ms. Letts's novel, we seem to walk away feeling more purposeful about ourselves. Another successful endeavor by Ms. Letts and hopefully another one will follow shortly.

"The Honk and Holler Opening Soon" is Billie Letts second book. For all of you who read and loved "Where the Heart Is" (or even if you did not read it)----this book is even better. And it was even better the second time around......I loved it!!!
The characters are memorable, and what a cast: Caney Paxton, the cafe owner and a Vietnam vet who is wheelchair-bound because he fell out of a helicopter in Vietnam; MollyO, a waitress and Caney's surrogate mother; Bui, a Vietnamese refugee who sneaks into the local AME church to sleep and finds employment at the Honk and Holler; and Vena Takes Horses, a wanderer who just sort of lands at the cafe. Letts brings all of these characters, and others, to life and makes the reader care about them.
Set in a cafe in a small Oklahoma town, we are introduced to small-town life with all its foibles, its peculiar characters, and its conflicts.
I did not want this book to end. It made me laugh and it made me cry. It is a book about family and its importance, even though the family at the Honk and Holler was not related by blood but connected by a different bond.
By the way, "Honk and Holler" was published in August of 1999, long BEFORE Letts was anointed by Oprah in December of 1999. In fact, I remember being disappointed that this book was not the one Oprah chose.
I would heartily recommend this book and look forward to Letts' next one.

Each character in this novel is wounded in some way. Caney, the proprietor of the diner in which the story takes place, is a Vietnam vet running the diner from his wheelchair. But, emotional wounds loom large as Billie Letts weaves the tale and each character is revealed to us. Caney is physically wounded but emotionally wounded too. MollyO is wounded by the death of her husband and loss of her runaway daughter, Brenda. Vena is a drifter working through the loss of her beloved sister, Helen. Bui has immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam and looses his purity and innocence as he is shot by a racist never do well, Sam. "Life", a regular at the diner who is there for all three meals, has suffered the death of his wife Reba, with whom he enjoyed an active love life chronicled in a notebook written by his wife. Life spends most of his time mooning for MollyO. MollyO is obsessed with her daughter, Brenda, who has been drifting trying to become a country western music star.
All of these souls converge on the Honk and Holler Diner Opening Soon. One mistake Caney made is have the neon sign out front made up while he was drinking and he added the two words "Opening Soon" in neon when he really just wanted a temporary wooden sign reading "Opening Soon". Now, the diner is open 12 years and the neon sign stills reads "Opening Soon". This mistake, immortalized in neon, is akin to the choices and mistakes the characters make in their lives. Somehow, all those things stay with them as the Honk and Holler Diner serves as stage, meeting room, psychiatrist's couch, haven, and healing ground. In a way, the Honk and Holler does open up soon. MollyO and Caney are in the diner themselves and the other characters enter the fabric of the diner and Billie Letts' magic begins. Just as entertaining as "Where the Heart Is" even though this book was not made into a movie.

I don't like the typical 'chick book,' dripping with sex, billed as 'romance.' To me, these books are no more than soft (and frequently hard) porn cop-outs for writers in order to make easy bucks for women's fiction genre. Admittedly, many writers do great research for their historical and geographical topics, in spite of the fact that many of the plots are not terribly realistic (but sometimes great fun).

After my husband dragged one book after another from the rack at the drug store thinking I would like romantic genre, I declined, bored with the 'same old-same old.' But when I saw Billie's novel on the rack with a picture of the vintage pickup truck parked outside a diner somewhere on one of America's back roads or highways on the front cover of her book, I was compelled to pick it up. It evoked memories of countless road trips and meals at old diners with our family when we were children, and the very same old pickup truck my fondly remembered Daddy used to give us rides in the back of when we were kids, looking like what Mama called 'orphans' with our long tangled hair from the windy rides.

The book was every bit as good as I had hoped...every character with their problems and blessings as real as life itself. With no glittery coating in this story, it speaks to the heart of those of us living commonly 'realistic' lives.

And what is better than finding romance in the crazy and mixed up mess that makes up life? Billie shows that in all the eccentricities that salt-of-the-earth folk usually have, it is 'love' that brings life's chaos into a cohesive order, and it is 'love' that is the glue that binds neighbors and friends into 'family.'

When I read and then finished Billie Letts's first book Where the Heart Is, I seriously doubted that I would ever read another book by this author I could enjoy more than this, her first title. But then I read The Honk and Holler Opening soon and I am now hard pressed to say which book I enjoyed more. So now let me say that perhaps Billie Letts's third book will break the tie. At least I am waiting ever so patiently for this book to be published as I imagine many of Ms. Letts's loyal fans are also doing.
The Honk and Holler is a roadside diner whch is populated by some local men who come in daily and truck drivers passing through. The diner is owned by Carney, a Vietnam veteran who lost both of his legs in the war. Carney is a former rodeo star who is so depressed that he never leaves the diner nor his bedroom in the back. Carney who is now confined to a wheelchair, dwells on that he lost his legs during a fall from a helicopter and not on the field of combat. But Carney has great suppport from a waitress named Mollie, who not only misses her husband but also worries about her runaway teenage daughter who has dreams of becoming a country western singer. And then one day two people seeking refuge and kindness arrive at the diner. One is Bui, a Vietnamense man, who works as a cook and is saving money to bring his wife to the US. And the other is Vena Take Horse, a Native American woman, with a history of drug abuse, a bad marraige and now has to deal with the suicide of her sister. How these four people help each other to put their lives back together with meaning and love provides the reader with many hours of pleasure and poignancy. It is as if the author allows us to take this wonderful journey with these memorable characters with us asking only to know more about them as we close the book.
Billie Letts has written a one of a kind book which ranks with other novels about lonely and unfulfilled people who finally find camaraderie and love. The setting of a dismal roadside stand with an opening sign never fixed right is the perfect place for these people to come together. How they try to brighten the diner for the holidays and ultimately brighten their own lives, is not only the background of this book but where the roots of this book are planted. This is a wonderful read and will appeal to those who have enjoyed books like The Bingo Queens of Paradise by June Park and Patty Jane's House of Curl by Lorna Landvik. Strong on emotion and characters, I can assure you that once you have read this book, you will never pass a roadside diner without thinking about Carney, Mollie, Vena and Bui and wondering how thay are doing.

This is one of my very favorite books. Sweet, funny, thought provoking story about acceptance, love, and the true meaning of family. The characters are brought to life beautifully by the author, and despite their diverse backgrounds, they truly become a family. Very satisfying ending as well.

After reading Where the Heart Is I took a reallyyyy long time getting around to Honk and Holler. I thought surely there was no way to top her first effort, but I've happily been proven wrong.

Caney, a paraplegic Vietnam vet; Vena Takes Horse, a lonely drifter; MollyO, a lonesome, under-appreciated mother on the verge of love; and Bui Kahn, a dangerously misplaced Vietnamese man waiting for this family, all get wound up in each other's lives under the glow of a neon sign reading The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. The sign is a town joke and 12-year-old mistake, but nevertheless, this diverse group of people comes to call the restaurant home and each other family.
In traditional Letts style the characters of this story are vivid, engrossing, and endearing. So often a cast of peripheral characters can pale in comparison to the main characters that the book focuses on, but that's not the case with Honk. Each character feels as if they fit equally into the framework of the story.
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon is a journey through love, loss, struggle, triumph, and heartbreak but it never seems sappy or overdone....just real. If you've ever lived in a small town you'll likely identify with many of Letts' characters and situations, and even if you haven't lived the life of the story you'll recognize their individual worth and inner beauty.

People from every walk of life entered this diner, some looking for a job, some for company and some just for a place that feels like family. Caney is the owner , who is a Vietnam vet who lost legs in the war, Molly is a boisterous widow who raised Caney and
now runs the diner, Vena takes horse is the Indian who shows up in town looking for work and seems to come from nowhere and Bui is a Vietnamese immigrant that somehow sought Oklahoma was the land of dreams come true. Letts has each character tell their
story in their words and then she spends a wonderful tale of four misfits who come together to make a better life for them and the townspeople who come to eat at the diner. The foursome open their hearts to us the reader and make us feel their pain and joy. This
is a tender look with the rough edges of living in a small town in the middle of nowhere and making a success of their life. At the end family rifts have begun to mend, love has been found and the future holds many possibilities for these characters who were so down in life before meeting each other.

This novel is about the life and interaction of several people from very different backgrounds and how they are able to bring their individual experiences together to help and inspire each other. This author has the great ability to create characters which are wonderful, a little quirky, very real and cause the reader to open their hearts and embrace each one.
It is somewhat difficult to review this novel because there are so many things going on with the various characters. Perhaps the best and most prolific interaction is between Caney, a disabled Vietnam vet and one of his employees, Mr. Bui, a Vietnamese individual. The most beautiful dialogue in the book is between these 2 characters after Bui is released from the hospital after he (Bui) is shot by an individual who did not like him solely due to his race.
The best way to sum up this novel is to say that on the whole, it teaches people how, notwithstanding our own differences, whether major or minor, we can come together. I praise the author because her novels contain characters from all walks of life, ethnicity's, socio-economic bckgrounds, etc. Her characters don't represent the rich and famous nor do they represent one dimensional personalities. The author creates characters which are representative of every day people with every day issues, insecurities etc. Great read

I changed the title of this review to "Absolutely Enthralling."
The setting of this story is small Town America-Sequoyah, Oklahoma. The "Honk," a small restaurant just off a somewhat deserted highway, is owned by Caney Paxton, a Vietnam Veteran who lost the use of his legs when he fell out of a helicopter. Therefore, he is confined to a wheelchair. The town people often wondered if Caney's manliness still worked.
There are six scenes in the book that truly touch the heart. I will list them without giving the exact details. To find out what this is all about you'll have to read the book.
1. Bui puzzled over why Sam who did not fight in the Vietnam War wanted to kill him and why Caney who did go to war was his friend.
2. The phone call from Carmelita.
3. Information from the man at the old house in Texas and the little tobacco can.
4. The introduction of Caney's son.
5. The bath, rocking, and the ultimate feat.
6. The Dance.
The Honk and Holler Opening Soon is "down-home" and down to earth with true-to-life characters-plain and simple. The author writes in a style that invoked emotions that brought tears, laughter, anger, and compassion.
This story stayed in my thoughts for a long time after reading it. It was as though the characters had become a part of my life.

After finishing a couple of dramatic more difficult novels, this book was just what I needed; a fun story filled with colorful entertaining people. Billie Letts created a wonderful story involving a melting pot of lovable, somewhat odd characters starting with Caney Paxton; a Vietnam vet who is also a paraplegic, then there is Vena Takes Horse; a Crow women with such a big heart, and then there is Bui Khanh; a vietnamese immigrant in search of the American dream, and also Galilee Jackson; a church going African American and many more...their intertwining lives bond together in strange and sometimes funny circumstances, yet their love for each other is so genuine, it is as strong if not stronger than a real blood related family.
This is a fast reading feel-good story. After all that is said and done ''Life is Good''. As Billie Letts said of her characters ''they live with love and sadness, yet find comfort in opening themselves to others. Ah humanity!''
I enjoyed The Honk and Holler opening soon (even the title is comical), I do recommend it and await her next book.

Honk and Holler Opening Soon is a small roadside café in a small town in Oklahoma. Although twelve years the "opening soon" is a town joke.
The café is ran by Caney, a Vietnam vet confined to a wheelchair after losing both legs; and Molly O, a boisterous widow woman who helped raise Caney. Life in the usually quiet small town café turns a 180 when two out-of-towners show up looking for work. The first is a Native American woman, Vena Takes Horse. Vena hitched a ride with a trucker who drops Vena and a wounded dog off at the café. The other is a Vietnamese immigrant, Bui, who is saving so his wife can join him in America.
The plot includes twists and turns including the budding romance developing between Caney and Vena, the secrets each of the characters are harboring and a local's dislike for Bui.
Letts, an Oklahoma native, creates a true picture of the happenings in a small town café.

In a tiny Oklahoma community, it seems the heart of all the action takes place at the curiously-named Honk and Holler Opening Soon...

While it doesn't boast a five-star menu, the Honk's staff genuinely care about making customers happy...even when they aren't too happy themselves. Owner Caney Paxton, a wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran, hasn't left the place in twelve years. His widowed waitress Molly O desperately longs for the return of her strong-willed daughter Brenda, who set off to become a singing sensation at age 17. Bui Kanh, a penniless immigrant from Vietnam, shrugs off the cold stares of the townspeople who still can't forget the war, focusing only upon being reuinited with his beloved Nguyet. And Vena Takes Horse, a young Crow/Cherokee woman who arrives mysteriously looking for work, carrying a wounded dog, and somehow unites them all...

Like a comfortable sweater or a warm cup of coffee, curl up with this story and fall in love with the characters in the Honk and Holler Opening Soon cafe. Letts crafts a great story full of love, anguish and hope, told through various characters who visit the cafe. I'm a sucker for stories that look at family and home as something one can find in life, if not lucky enough to be born to it. Like "Where the Heart Is", Bett writes of real people in difficult situations, who find their way home.
Lisa Ard
Author of 'Saving Halloween' and the Dream Seeker adventures

Billie Letts' THE HONK AND HOLLER OPENING SOON is a book you must stick with, roll with and then enjoy. The Honk is a small, very small toiwn diner in nowhere Oklahoma. The owner Caney and his employee, Molly O exist there but in this one we add a cast of charaters and away we go. The book is different and well written. Worth the quick red time it takes. Billie Lettss can write and more than that thinks, RECOMMENDED

"The Honk and Holler"....was absolutely fantastic!!! Caney Paxton was injured in Vietnam and when he came home in a wheelchair, he never went outside. MollyO, his faithful partner at the "Honk", is a mother of a teenage daughter who has run off. Together the run the "Honk" and have regular customers every day, but not a booming business. Then along comes Vena Takes Horse, and the whole place changed. Vena decided Caney needed "curbside sevice", so she took to carhopping in the parking lot. Caney falls in love with Vena. Also on the working crew is Bui, an immigrant from Viet Nam. Vena and Bui finally get Caney outside in a surprising way. This is a great story, and I loved it almost as much as "Where The Heart Is." Ten thumbs up for this one!!!!