American Boy

I have an initial problem with Larry Watson’s book. I find it difficult to believe that any reputable doctor would take two teenage boys into his examination room to view a naked comatose female patient. That quibble aside this is a typical Larry Watson novel. Raw, unflinching, true to life.

Matthew Garth is a fatherless boy from the wrong side of the tracks who is befriended by a classmate, the doctor’s son in a small town where a doctor is held in high esteem. While treated like a member of his friend’s family he is never unaware of his place in the scheme of things. The boys indulge in the usual teenage hijinks: drinking, racing cars, and fantasizing about girls. In the end though Matthew displays remarkable maturity for a 17-year-old. Make no mistake, this is an adult novel.

The Rockin' Chair

By Steven Manchester

A bit too sentimental and mushy for some tastes. After his wife of many years dies of Alzheimers an old Farmer sits in the Rocking Chair on his front porch and ruminates about his estranged relationship with his only son and the lives of his three grandchildren. His mainstay has been his daughter-in-law. The book’s most poignant insights are into the nature of the relationships between fathers and sons. We are dealing with 3 adult generations here. Teenage sons feel obligated to rebel against their parents but maintain an easy relationship with their grandparents. The issue would seem to be finding a means of severing the familial bond of dependency without creating a permanent rift.

Little House in the Big Woods

I will confess to having not seen any of the 205 episodes of Little House on the Prairie but I am curious to read at least one of her books after driving through Laura Ingalls Wilder Territory. I say this because I was fascinated to discover that no less than 5 locations claim to be her birthplace. I’ve heard of being born again but this is ridiculous. It would seem that her father was extremely peripatetic as I encountered at least a score of locations that claim some relationship with her as her homestead or place of residence. I remember commenting at the time that if she was going to become famous it was good of her to spread the wealth around.

Many of the activities described remind me of my own years on a country farm in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. Our woods wasn’t quite as all-pervasive and we weren’t threatened by wolves, cougars or bears but we did churn our own butter, make our own bread, do our own butchering, pickle and smoke meat to preserve it. We did not use a fire place and we had a hand pump but almost everything else seems familiar.

The book reads somewhat like a museum piece and seems somewhat idealized as seen through the eyes of a child. Don’t expect it to be too much like the TV Show. The most lasting impression one is left with is the fact that these people had none of the labour-saving devices we take for granted today. They would have balked at being termed poor but they lived a subsistence existence producing everything they needed save for the coffee, tea, and molasses that wouldn’t grow in Northern Minnesota. Tapping maple trees to make sugar, sewing and knitting their own clothes, making lye soap, heating water to have a bath in a metal tub. They may have been self-reliant but they spent nearly every waking hour seeing to the essentials of life. There was little time to read, playing the violin was a luxury and family gatherings and dances were a rare treat. No wonder young adults looked back so fondly at their years of childhood play!

The Lightning Thief

In this young adult novel twelve-year-old misfit student Percy learns that he is an immortal, or at least a demi-god. This is the year that Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor becomes a senior citizen. If he manages to outlive his mother Elizabeth Alexandra Mary now 87 whose mother lived to 102 he will become king or failing that his son William Philip Arthur Louis age 31. Now imagine that you are the offspring of Zeus or Jupiter. These Greek or Roman Gods are immortal. As such succession is an impossibility. What’s a bored immortal godling to do? Hanky panky with humans is one possible amusement; hence we have Percy. Quite a mouthful to swallow just after escaping the horns of the Minotaur. Now imagine Mount Olympus on Long Island.

Restored and healed by water and having an ability for sword-play he had no idea he possessed Perseus, Lightning Thief is sent on a quest. If you think these kids get into a great deal of trouble along the way remember these are twelve-year-olds out on their own. Their curiosity and sense of adventure keep them constantly in hot water. Not a great book but moderately interesting if for nothing else it’s treatment of Greek Myth.