Reading tomorrow’s NYT on-line led me to the book review and I was pleased to see the lead review devoted to Tony Earley’s new novel, “The Blue Star.” Over the last ten years or so I have read some great books; Blood Meridian, Atonement, and Lolita (finally!) to name three, but Earley’s novel “Jim the Boy” has to be my favorite. It was not a commercial success, but I recommend it to everyone I know, and I have given away about ten copies of it over the years. I still own three first editions that I really need to get autographed.
To me, the novel is the equivalent of “The Yearling,” the book all of us had to read back in junior high and learned to love when we re-read it as adults. “Jim the Boy” is like that, a coming of age tale set in North Carolina during the depression. Jim is a ten year old boy whose father died prior to his birth and is raised by his mother and three uncles. It really is a charming book. One of the reviews describes it as a children’s book for adults, a fair characterization, but the novel touches that remembrance of youth and simpler times without becoming maudlin. I recommend it as a book everyone should read. If you decide to give it to your child, do not do so before reading it yourself. You will not be disappointed.
Comments