false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179277192m/897070.jpg 897070 4 Randall Hunsacker, the protagonist of Tom McNeal's first novel, <I>Goodnight, Nebraska</I>, is only 17, but already he has two strikes against him: his father's death when Randall was thirteen led to a succession of "stepfathers" moving through his life and the last one, Lenny, Randall has shot. The shooting, a suicide attempt, and a stint in juvenile hall is what brings Randall to the small town of Goodnight, Nebraska--a place where he hopes to start over. He gets a job, earns a place on the high school football team and even starts dating one of the cheerleaders; things are looking up for Randall. But in a town like Goodnight--<I>Hicksburg</I>, to Randall, or <I>ShitdeVille</I>--what goes up must eventually come down. And so it is for Randall--he gets injured during a football game and his girlfriend, thinking he's dead, announces they are engaged, and before he knows it, he is married, living in a trailer, facing a life that seems to have dead-ended before it even got started. <P> Appearances can be deceiving, however. To Randall and his wife, Marcy, Goodnight seems like the last place on earth; he never imagined himself coming here, she never stopped dreaming about getting out. Much of McNeal's novel has to do with the gradual disintegration of Randall and Marcy's marriage; at the same time it limns a warm portrait of a middle-American town that may not be very exciting to live in, but one where people know they can count on each other in a pinch. It takes Marcy leaving--and Randall going after her--to finally teach them both that there's really no place like Goodnight. 882259 1 6 1998 Goodnight, Nebraska total:95|5:14|4:37|3:30|2:12|1:2| 95 334 121 14 4 0 false false Mon Jun 08 18:18:32 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 08 18:21:49 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Mon Aug 10 08:49:55 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 08:54:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Nov 25 21:54:09 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 25 21:56:36 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Mon Sep 15 18:30:57 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 17 09:02:00 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 15 18:30:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Nov 22 20:00:42 -0800 2008 Sat Nov 22 20:01:06 -0800 2008 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Dec 29 09:52:54 -0800 2008 Tue Aug 04 21:22:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 05 11:53:18 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 17 05:44:47 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Oct 15 06:53:54 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 06:45:12 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 06:52:05 -0700 2007 as much as I enjoyed the writing style, that the whole thing
was just too sad. It doesn't actually turn itself around, which would have
been too trite anyway, but it does find a glimmer of hope buried in all
the sadness...]]> 3 0 false false Thu May 08 20:58:08 -0700 2008 Thu May 08 20:59:32 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Thu Mar 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 10 06:23:12 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 10 06:24:55 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 18:24:29 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 19:52:25 -0800 2008
Oh, but now I know that it's Tom, not Laura, who writes the characters with the goofy dialogue in their novels.

]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 13 08:59:31 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 18 12:20:50 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 13 08:59:31 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 07:41:14 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 02 07:42:18 -0700 2007 5 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Aug 28 20:03:54 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 28 20:06:01 -0700 2007 ]]> 0 0 false false Sat Oct 31 11:33:42 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 31 11:33:42 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Thu Oct 08 15:50:49 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 15:50:49 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Fri Oct 02 21:16:08 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 10:17:14 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Sep 28 12:36:18 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 12:36:26 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Sep 20 19:18:13 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 20 19:18:13 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 18 15:04:50 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 15:04:50 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=897070