The pleasures of a good story, simply told
Tony Earley鈥檚 novels are the Shaker chairs of American literature. They鈥檙e well-made, sturdy tales that are stripped of excess and postmodern gimmicks, and they just might last you forever.
His 2000 novel, 鈥淛im the Boy,鈥� became a surprise critical darling and bestseller by taking the tools of children鈥檚 literature and bending them to a book for adults. It was a brilliant idea: Adult bookworms (at least of the genus voraciatus fictionus) are constantly searching for a book that will hit us the same way the ones from childhood did, and usually coming up short.
Its sequel, The Blue Star, probably won鈥檛 sneak up on people quite the same way, but that鈥檚 mostly to the good. The more folks who find Earley鈥檚 novels, the more happy readers there鈥檒l be out there.
In the first book, Jim Glass was a 10-year-old being raised during the Great Depression by his widowed mother and a trio of loving uncles in the mountain town of Aliceville, N.C.
In the sequel, it鈥檚 1941 and World War II is raging in Europe. Jim鈥檚 now a senior in high school and reeling under the force of his first love. The object of his adoration is Chrissie Steppe, who unfortunately happens to be the girl of Bucky Bucklaw, who鈥檚 stationed in Hawaii.
Jim can鈥檛 stand Bucky, who was 鈥渢he kind of baseball player who blamed his glove when he booted a ground ball, or his bat when he struck out,鈥� but honor is honor.
He contents himself with touching Chrissie鈥檚 long black hair, which falls all over his desk in history class, and is shocked to find out that Chrissie noticed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 attached to my head,鈥� she replies. (When we first meet Chrissie, she鈥檚 threatening to beat a smart-aleck 鈥渓ike a borrowed mule.鈥�)
She鈥檚 got no time for romance. Where Jim has been coddled, Chrissie鈥檚 life has been lived on 鈥渢he wrong side of the mountain,鈥� as she explains to Jim: not enough sunshine and a chill that never goes away.
鈥淚 think you鈥檙e a very nice boy,鈥� she tells Jim. 鈥淏ut I also think you鈥檝e never learned you don鈥檛 get to have everything you want every time you want it.鈥�
Chrissie鈥檚 got her own reasons for staying with Bucky, and none of them have to do with love: Her family lives in a 鈥渄og-trot鈥� cabin on the Bucklaw farm, and they鈥檝e got nowhere to go if Bucky鈥檚 dad kicks them off his land.
In one of the book鈥檚 most resonant chapters, the two explore an abandoned house and dream up a little old lady, Juanita Loretta Rebecca, and man, Hernando Amos Grover, to conduct a shadow courtship for them.
鈥淭hat make-believe intimacy, and the make-believe years on which it was built, seemed to remain comfortably settled around their shoulders 鈥� even as they left Hernando and Juanita sitting in their broken chairs by their ghostly stove, forever arguing about walnuts.鈥�
The uncles settle a little into the background this go-round, and there鈥檚 no word from best friend/rival Penn Carson, who鈥檚 been spirited off to boarding school. In his place, Earley substitutes would-be ladykiller Dennis Deane, whose goofball antics get a melancholy subplot of their own.
Jim鈥檚 friends also include ex-girlfriend Norma, a brainy blonde who still comes over every day to quilt with Jim鈥檚 mom, much to Jim鈥檚 consternation.
When he complains that they were 鈥渏ust dating,鈥� his Uncle Zeno explains, 鈥淵ou were just dating, Jim. Norma was picking. And when she picked you, your Mama picked her. Norma was going to be the daughter she never had. That鈥檚 what that quilt was about.鈥�
As with the first novel, the strongest emotions are those unspoken. In 鈥淛im the Boy,鈥� Earley dealt with racism and mountain versus town rivalries, as well as the Great Depression.
Take the chapter 鈥淭he Wide Sea,鈥� when Jim travels out of state with Uncle Al to buy two Belgian draft horses 鈥� to find only their corpses. Before leaving, the debt-riddled farmer shot all his animals to keep the bank from getting them.
Uncle Al shoots a carrion bird hovering over the carcasses and then takes his nephew for their first view of the ocean. 鈥淚 wish we could鈥檝e got there sooner,鈥� he tells Jim. 鈥淢e too,鈥� Jim replies.
In 鈥淭he Blue Star,鈥� the rivalry between farmers and 鈥渓intheads,鈥� the workers in the cotton mills, and the prejudice Chrissie all too often faces for being half-Cherokee work alongside the war to propel the novel forward.
鈥淭he Blue Star鈥� isn鈥檛 quite as free from the taint of melodrama as 鈥淛im the Boy鈥�: Chrissie鈥檚 mom turns out to be Uncle Zeno鈥檚 long-lost love. The coincidence doesn鈥檛 feel necessary, but it doesn鈥檛 really harm the novel any.
With World War II looming, it feels as if the whole world is living on the 鈥渨rong side of the mountain,鈥� and before novel鈥檚 end, Jim鈥檚 going to have to set off in its shadow. So, a little more drama is probably in order.
But in the end, Earley delivers a rarity: a good story, told without fuss or flourish, and with the assurance of someone who knows what he's doing on every page.
鈥� Yvonne Zipp regularly reviews fiction for the Monitor.
