Shadow Country won the National Book award this year, but I don't think it should have. The book is a rewrite of three novels Matthiessen published about 30 years ago. He claims he dropped about 400 pages from the original, but in my mind 400 was not enough. The book could easily have been about half as long as it is (over 900 pages).

The story revolves around one E.J.Watson who was a planter in the Florida keys with a storied, violent past. Out of fear of him, his neighbors one day assassinate him as he comes into town. I'm giving nothing away since this happens in the first few pages of the book. The rest of the novel is dedicated to trying to figure out whether he was the monster everyone took him to be. It's told in three sections; one a description of what his neighbors saw and believed, one where his son tries to establish his innocence, and a third where he tells his own story. At least I think that was the third story because by then I found the constant repetition of theme so boring I gave up on it.

The writing is very good and the description of the everglades is outstanding. (What a horrible place to live). It's the story that's the problem. I have lost faith in the National Book award. The last few years it has picked books that are pretentious but boring. For instance, in 2007 Tree of Smoke won against And Then We Came To The End. I did not read Tree because of the terrible reviews it got on Amazon. The End was my favorite book last year. I guess the NBA has become like the Oscars far more interested in the politics of it all than in quality.