LET HIM GO by Larry Watson

Larry Watson, Let Him Go (Milkweed 2013 Minneapolis, MN, 2013). 269 Pages.

Also available on Nook and Kindle.

(Novel)

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

Larry Watson is a favorite author of Sue’s and mine. Recently he was in Iowa City reading from this new book of his. We spoke with him and had our copy autographed. My favorite book of his in the past was Orchard, although White Crosses is another favorite of the both of us. Some years back we read one of his earliest books, Montana 1948.

I describe Larry Watson’s writing as spare, using only the words necessary to deliver a thought or scene. The current book is set in North Dakota and Montana, a favorite part of the country for Watson. George and Margaret Blackledge have a son who met an unfortunate early demise, and his widow and only grandson left the area of North Dakota where the Blackledge’s live for points west. There is an undertone of the belief that the erstwhile daughter-in-law is mistreating the grandson so they set out for Montana for a possible search and rescue of the grandson.

The book begins in a very mild tone, the characters exhibiting a down to earth mid-western attitude toward life. I don’t think the reader is ever quite prepared for the second half of the book, which takes on a definite unexpected edge. What begins as a rather benign tale of search and possible rescue turns into a very different kind of story. I will not say any more about that now, not wanting to spoil a really good read. This is a very well written book by an author that is not often on the bestseller list, but is very fine author and well respected by his peers. 

CROSSING THE WIRE by Will Hobbs

Will Hobbs, Crossing the Wire (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006).

Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs, read by Ramón de Ocampo (Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2006).

Also available on Kindle and Nook.

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

(NOVEL)

Crossing the Wire is a well-written adventure and coming-of-age story. Victor Flores is shocked when he learns that his long-time best friend Rico Rivera has received $1500 from his older brother so he can pay a coyote to get him across the border from Mexico into the US. Rico’s main incentives are a desire for adventure and a desire to get rich.

Victor’s father died working in the US, and the teenager has done his best to provide for his mother, sisters and little brother. Unfortunately, the free trade treaty and US subsidies to corn farmers has made life increasingly difficult. Corn exported to Mexico is so cheap that Mexican farmers cannot compete. Victor finally decides he must try to get across the border and get a job, or his family will not have enough food for the coming year. He doesn’t have money to pay a coyote, so he will have to make it on his own.

Will Victor get across the border and be able to send money home? What happened to Rico and the other men from their village with whom he left for the border? Will the boys meet again? Hobbs has worked into this young adult novel many of the dangers confronted by Mexicans driven by poverty, a desire for better lives for themselves and their families, and (occasionally) a desire for adventure: desert heat, extreme cold in the mountains, violence, drug runners, gangsters, border patrols, petty thieves, and more. Victor has to decide again and again who can or cannot be trusted,

Elements of Mexican culture are also worked into the book. Though he grew up near Guanajuato, Victor is from Chiapas. In Mayan civilization, the jaguar facilitates communication between the living and the dead (and maybe between two people who are far apart). When Victor was quite small, he saw a jaguar in Chiapas. Will s jaguar help him on is journey?

I recommend this book to teens and to adults of all ages. It has won the following recognitions: Americas Award Commended Title, Junior Library Guild Selection, Southwest Book Award, Notable Books for a Global Society (IRA) 2007, New York Public Library Books for the Teenage, and the Heartland Award.

The audio-book is well read by Ramón de Ocampo.