Steve Yarbrough, a Mississippi native, already has a following; now after the recent publication of Safe from the Neighbors, he will have a larger one! I read this new novel, set in the Mississippi Delta, as most of his novels are, over the weekend, and even when I did not have it in my hand, I was thinking about it and could not wait to pick it up again.
Yes, it is readable! Yes, the characters are true Delta figures of the 1960s! Yes, the tumultuous Civil Rights time rises to the surface, but in a meaningful way! During the other time period, a present day protagonist, a history teacher at a local high school, whose wife teaches writing at Delta State, spends half of his time reflecting on his poverty stricken childhood and his uneducated, farmer father, while at the same time trying unsuccessfully to keep his slowly dissolving marriage intact. The unexpected entry of a previous childhood friend as a newly hired teacher at the high school, who has now grown up to be a tempting seductress, throws a spark into the picture; in addition, the lives of their parents intertwined closely.
Having just read Richard Russo ‘s new novel That Old Cape Magic, I became strangely aware of the very similar writing styles. In fact, if I had closed my eyes, not having read either one, it would have been hard to differentiate. So, if you like Russo’s writing, you’ll like Yarbrough’s. But, that is where the similarity ends. I did like That Old Cape Magic, BUT I liked Yarbrough’s Safe from the Neighbors MORE! Why????? Because I like a novel to give me some profound insights about either life, people, or events. Yarbrough’s last chapter did that for me! I am richer for having read Safe from the Neighbors. Those of us who grew up in the confusing and upsetting ’60s in Mississippi will forever be looking for new ways to interpret and understand our complex experiences. Yes, I had many questions then as I still do now. I will always have questions and also few answers. Kathryn Stockett’s smash hit The Help posed the same questions for me. Yarbrough’s new novel answered some of those questions for me in its last chapter, and that is what sets it above some others for me.
I look forward to Steve Yarbrough’s reading next Thursday, February 11, at 5 p.m. at Lemuria’s dotcom building. If you have never heard Yarbrough read, then for sure come. I remember with satisfaction the excellent reading of his last novel The End of California in the summer of 2006.
-Nan
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