Finished Sa 5/26/18
After the abject disappointment of 'PSTALEMATE', McGuane's novel was such a relief. A truly wry and very human and heartwarming story. Simply written, yet very deep and hilarious to boot.
"God invented women because sheep can't cook'.
'After a drunken, 3am phone call....Don't pay the ransom! I'm free!'
Joe Starling grew up (and slightly 'out of') Deadrock, Montana. His father is a drunken rancher turned banker- this man relocates to Minnesota. The ranch is left for Joe, but the paperwork is with his Aunt Lureen and Uncle Smitty. A neighboring rancher, Overstreet wants the land because it would 'fill in the lower right hand corner' of his land holding.
Joe attends military school and goes to an ivy league university to study painting, and works summers on the ranch.
His painting urge was inspired by what he thought was a wonderfully obscure painting in an abandoned ranch house on the land. Later, he realizes that the reason it was so hazy is because it was only a pine frame around nothing.
He has a career painting pictures to illustrate how mechanical products work; ex. my old beard trimmer, but I don't even think that a painting could make that understandable.
Joe is living in Miami, Fl and has a Cuban lover, Astrid. An interesting relationship in that he's still carrying the torch for a childhood lover, Ellen.
Billy Kelston is a childhood friend and every time he sees Billy, Joe gets a beat-down. This man is a Vietnam vet and although they fight, they are naturally almost brothers. Too similar to be enemies.
When he comes back to Deadrock to run the farm he finds out from Ellen that they have a child, Clara. However, Ellen won't let him see his daughter. The reason is that Clara is 'special needs'.
After running the ranch, and might even turn a profit, he learns that Lureen and Smitty have wrangled the books and can legally skim off Joe's profits, but Joe retains ownership.
Uncle Smitty is an alcoholic and brother of Lureen. He was never the same after returning from WWII.
Joe's father would say, "I went to war and came back OK", "You didn't go over where I went over"- says Smitty.
Steamy sex between Ellen and Joe, but although this woman seems like 'the love of his life'. Astrid might be the legitimate owner of his heart.
In the end, he loses the ranch (more of less, gives it away) and the hope is that Astrid will give him another shot.
McGuane has a novel called PANAMA, and I'm pretty sure that I own this and I'm on the lookout. If I can't find it, I'll buy it. I'm surprised that the library doesn't own more of his work. He writes a lot of non-fiction, too.
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