Goodnight, Nebraska

Rating:
Summary: Too neat, but a great read
Review: I have always wanted to live in Kansas or the plains, go pheasant hunting, get into the air between the Earth and the sky. This book allowed me to do it without having to. Thanks to Tom McNeal. From a Hemingway scholar who loves the American novel set, unlike Ernest's work, in America, this is worthwhile.

Rating:
Summary: Second Chance in the Sandhills:review of Goodnight, Nebraska
Review: Many of us will recognize the fictional town of Goodnight, located in the Nebraska panhandle somewhere between Chadron and Rushville near the Niobrara River. We grew up in, or have close ties to, a place just like it - some small town where the main forms of entertainment are the Friday night high school football games and pheasant hunting, and where folks get curious if you happen to be going down the street in a different direction than usual. Goodnight is where 17 year-old Randall Hunsacker is sent after his life turns wrong in Provo, Utah. Randall has two things going for him: he's a helluva free safety and a hard- working auto mechanic. And then Marcy Lockhardt, the most popular cheerleader, starts to pay him some attention. This novel is Randall's story, but it's also the story of a variety of people from the town, most notably the staid and successful farmer and his bored and disillusioned wife, who become Randall's in-laws. McNeal draws the setting and characters without ever hitting a wrong note. (The football game scene should draw chuckles of familiarity from small town natives.) And the more we come to know these people, the more we see a striking contrast emerge between the men, who find an anchor in routine, and the women, who long for a release from the monotony. McNeal examines his characters' weak spots. As Randall tells his wife, the weak spots are what define us. When that spot gets pushed and everything else about you falls away, what's left is who you are.

Rating:
Summary: Goodnight is more than it seems
Review: While the novel may fell like several tacked together short-stories (which it was), it still works because the story's arc is so compelling. Tom McNeal takes us from a stifling void of a childhood to the small town which shapes and settles the lead character, Randall Hunsacker. Everything feels familiar, but McNeal avoids cliches and defies expectations. As may happen in real life, characters (including immediate family) fade and disappear as the simple and troubled Randall finds his way. This is not a love story or a simple small town portrait -- but this novel (and you can deride me all you want) captures a true everyman.

Notes: The title nearly scared me off, but the jacket art reigned me in. If you like quiet ruminations on life and family, I recommend Ron Hansen's Atticus and (for a movie selection) Sean Penn's The Indian Runner.