Ryan ChartrandCal Poly’s PREFACE book for fall 2008 will be Larry Watson’s riveting tale, “Montana 1948.” Winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, this novel is a raw, and at times chilling first hand look through the eyes of a boy at the horrific happenings that transpire during the summer of his twelfth year.
Told in a frank, un-diluted tone, the narrator, David Hayden, spares no detail of the summer that would forever be engrained in his memory.
“From the summer of my twelfth year I carry a series of images more vivid and lasting than any others of my boyhood and indelible beyond all attempts the years make to erase or fade them..”
Thus we are cast upon the scene of the small town of Bentrock in Mercer County, Montana, where David is part of a well- respected family that has long had a deep influence with the law. David’s father is the sheriff, taking the reigns from his father before him. David’s Uncle Frank, celebrated war-hero turned doctor, is someone he has always looked up to in awe, admiring his charisma and effortless charm. We watch as life as David knows it is shattered into a world of disillusionment and unthinkable circumstances.
The story opens with a flashback like prologue describing a young Sioux woman lying ill in a room in David’s home. Marie Little Soldier, an Indian from a nearby reservation who plays the roll of babysitter, as well as adolescent object of desire for David, is the center of the controversy, and whose ailment of pneumonia is the first ray of light to be shown on an ignored and misunderstood series of assaults in the quiet town.
After resisting medical assistance from Frank, Marie confides in David’s mother a seemingly impossible reason. According to her, Frank had been sexually assaulting Indian women during his medical visits. As the story unfolds, and secrets are brought to the surface, we watch the subtle change in a once lighthearted boy, content to riding his horse and chasing after Marie, to a darkened soul, acutely aware of the evils life can harvest in the most unexpected places.
David’s father faces the most difficult choice, riding the line of brotherhood and the way of the law. As David observes his father’s pain, we sense a wisdom radiating from his young mind to levels of understanding that perhaps only an event such as this could inspire.
At times David uses his later voice, one of an adult man, to provide interesting retrospect to the situation. The narrative concocts the perfect balance of childlike wonder, with the reflective understanding of an adult who has had many years to ponder the events of that summer. As the story moves forward it is as though the reader has been let into a discarded and hidden file of a crime that only a family could understand; one that sparks wonder of history, and the accuracy of information of old. This novel invokes a sense of fear, and a constant need- to -know feeling of anxiety and curiosity to make the memoir like novel a heart racing page-turner.
“Montana 1948,” is an unapologetic work of fiction delving deep into issues of loyalty, and doing what is right. The interesting part is that from the eyes of a young boy, we are treated to un-jaded facts, and unembellished detail. Heavy issues of prejudice and crime are cut out to be simple decisions of right and wrong, decorated with the na’ve disbelief that good people could not be capable of horrific things.
This novel is an epic coming of age story that holds nothing back. Through all the misery, the book is laden with satisfying moments of immature realization from David. At times he will pause in a moment, and make note of simple things, or provide the reader with the random and un-matching thoughts running through his mind at seemingly inopportune moments.
Read this novel. PREFACE book or not, it is a gripping, convincing story, that at times makes it difficult to believe that you are not reading David’s diary.
Opportunities to discuss this novel and meet the author will be available early fall quarter.