Maggie, one of two mighty front desk managers, has a knack for knowing what each of us likes to read. She said, “Hey, Pat. I think you’ll like Spooner. It’s funny and a bit quirky and by Pete Dexter, National Book Award winner for Paris Trout.”
The first few chapters spelled magic for me. When Spooner, our reluctant protagonist, was born along with his twin who died at birth, their mother grieved that loss over a lifetime. Spooner sees himself as second fiddle and even further down the line after genius siblings are born to mom and her new husband named Calmer after the death of Spooner’s father. If it weren’t for Calmer, a navy captain who makes a disaster of a funeral at sea with prestigious onlookers shocked by a coffin that won’t sink, Spooner may have ended up much worse. Calmer provides enough unspoken support for this stepson that Spooner often survives rather poor choices that keep us laughing and cheering for the not obviously loved and often rejected Spooner.
Who amongst us has not felt rejection? To survive, most of us have enough laughter and success to weather those pitfalls and poor choices. To celebrate such a life may be even harder. The strong pull in this book is the character driven plot that just won’t let us give up on Spooner. We won’t put this book down until we find out how it all turns out. It probably deserves some most worthy awards because it is wonderfully original and very well crafted by a unique voice in American literature.
-Pat
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