by Amy Franklin-Willis
Books that are endorsed by authors Pat Conroy and Mark Childress
get my attention. When Conroy describes a title as ‘A riveting, hardscrabble
book on the rough, hardscrabble south, which has rarely been written about with
such grace and compassion’- Well, that
compels me to pick up the book and take it home. And that’s what I did and here
is what I discovered.
This ‘hardscrabble’ southern story is told through the voice of
forty-two-year-old Ezekiel (Zeke) Cooper and his mother Lillian who live in the
stifling small town of Clayton, Tennessee. It is the classic struggle of those who
vow to leave their small town life, only to find an unexpected obstacle thrown
in their path. And so, they remain in a place they don’t want to be, living a
life where they are not fully invested. Late in life and on the brink of death,
we find Lillian who has a trail of regrets and her middle-aged son Zeke, who is
experiencing painful regrets of his own.
Zeke and his twin brother Carter were inseparable – even when
Carter is left mentally diminished from encephalitis that occurs as a result of
measles at the age of two. Zeke’s loyalty to Carter grows even stronger and so,
when as an adult, Carter drowns, Zeke is left with an emptiness and an
overwhelming sense of guilt. That guilt affects his marriage, the relationship he
has with his daughters and the growing bitterness towards his mother.
As a remedy to guilt, Zeke recklessly clears all former obstacles that prevented him from leaving Clayton. It is on this spontaneous journey that he finds himself in a place, where some twenty years before, had experienced a sense of purpose and peace. It is there that he gains a true perspective on where his
life has been and what possibilities still lie ahead.
I enjoyed the characters in this book but the story, although compelling, was essentially another variation of man in mid-life crisis. But I agree with Pat Conroy when he says this book was ‘written
with such grace and compassion.’
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