American Boy by Larry Watson

Finished Su 5/8/22

This was a hardback that I bought on Amazon. I watched the movie 'TOMATO RED' and I wanted another book by Daniel Woodrell but they were all too expensive. I noticed that many recommended Larry Watson's books so I gave it a shot.

Set in the Fall of 1962 in Willow Falls, Minnesota.   

A 1960 Valiant is featured. The same car that I had as a senior at Wheeling High School. I did a little research on the car and it evolved into kind of a muscle car but I will never forget that ugly design. 

The novel highlights class differences in small town America.

Matthew, a high school boy is friends with Dr. Dunbar's family. The doctor's son is his best friend and when Louisa Lindahl is taken into their household everything changes. The woman was shot by her boyfriend and the doctor has taken pity on her. Actually, she is determined to get the doctor to leave his wife and family and be with her. And, Matthew has taken a shine to her.

The crisis comes when doctor Dunbar and his son turn against Matthew and side with the woman.

Matthew gives her money to leave the town and threatens to reveal her plan to break up the Dunbar's.

From GoodReads:

"We were exposed to these phenomena in order that we might learn something, but of course the lessons we learn are not always those we are taught . . .

So begins Matthew Garth’s story of the fall of 1962, when the shooting of a young woman on Thanksgiving Day sets off a chain of unsettling events in Willow Falls, Minnesota. Matthew first sees Louisa Lindahl in Dr. Dunbar’s home office, and at the time her bullet wound makes nearly as strong an impression as her unclothed body. Fueled over the following weeks by his feverish longing for this mysterious woman—as well as by a deep desire for the comfort and affluence that appears to surround the Dunbars—Matthew finds himself drawn into a series of confrontations he never expected, the results of which will change his life irrevocably and give lie to his version of the American dream.

Immersive, heartbreaking, and richly evocative of time and place, this long-awaited new novel marks the return of a great American storyteller." 

I felt the book was a little less than compelling but an interesting concept nonetheless. I would read more by Larry Watson.