HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL
Certain elements of Goolrick's HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL reminded me of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. He catches you completely by surprise. His main character does something so out of character you can't stop thinking about what happened.
Readers can also trace the plot to old time Appalachian music, some of which Goolrich includes in the book. Oldtimers will be reminded of the Kingston Trio's "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley."
The story is set in 1948, and Charlie Beale, a war veteran, comes to Brownsburg, Virginia, sizing the place up. Seems like he's "looking for wonderful." He spends most his time outside town near a river just thinking, then he buys the land. He also takes a job as a butcher working for Will and Alma Haislett, and becomes attached to their five-year-old son Sam, who calls him "Beebo."
Sometime during the first several weeks the town's richest man, Boaty Glass, enters the store. He's also the area's biggest landowner. He and Will have known each other since they were kids, but Will tells Charlie Boaty is not a nice man. Later his wife, Sylvan, thirty years his junior, enters the store, looks around and leaves. Charlie looks at her like Frank Sinatra must've looked at Ava Gardner the first time he saw her in the flesh.
Charlie becomes a town hero when he saves Sam from drowning as does Sylvan who was the first to jump in and follow the current. Some back story is necessary. Boatie Glass was a 48-year-old virgin when he went out to Sylvan's little secluded valley and offered her family two thousand dollars for their daughter. They could stay on the land, but if she ever left him he would repossess the place. Her parents were so poor they agreed. We now have a moral dilemma. Is this a legal marriage? She doesn't seem to think so. Sylan, although beautiful, is also an odd duck. Her whole existence is built around fantasy, mainly the movies and her favorite radio program, Helen Trent.
Okay, so Charlie and Sylvan have an affair. But Goolrick throws in a little bit of a quandary. For some reason Charlie takes Sam along. Anybody with a grain of sense would know that eventually the kid would get curious, and sure enough, he does. Charlie Beale is a decent, loveable man. He treats just about everybody with respect. He even tries to join the black church, because they seem to be having fun, while the Baptists and the Methodists just talk about what sinners we all are.
Eventually Boatie finds out about the affair, but it seems he's more upset about Charlie's popularity than the fact that the man is cuckolding him. He doesn't even like her that much. He's got a mistress on the side. But property is property, and he forces Sylan to do something she doesn't want to do or he'll take back her parents' farm.
It appears Sylvan is more loyal to her family, who has pretty much disowned her, than she is to Charlie. That's one theory anyway for the terrible thing that happens. But I kind of think you'll have your own. Some people will be angry that Goolrick doesn't explain it, but it's a better story this way. Another minor quibble is that Boatie Glass, the most despicable character in the book, doesn't get his comeuppance. We want to see him boiled in oil, skinned alive and drawn and quartered, but for all we know he died in bed at age 95 in his sleep.
Readers can also trace the plot to old time Appalachian music, some of which Goolrich includes in the book. Oldtimers will be reminded of the Kingston Trio's "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley."
The story is set in 1948, and Charlie Beale, a war veteran, comes to Brownsburg, Virginia, sizing the place up. Seems like he's "looking for wonderful." He spends most his time outside town near a river just thinking, then he buys the land. He also takes a job as a butcher working for Will and Alma Haislett, and becomes attached to their five-year-old son Sam, who calls him "Beebo."
Sometime during the first several weeks the town's richest man, Boaty Glass, enters the store. He's also the area's biggest landowner. He and Will have known each other since they were kids, but Will tells Charlie Boaty is not a nice man. Later his wife, Sylvan, thirty years his junior, enters the store, looks around and leaves. Charlie looks at her like Frank Sinatra must've looked at Ava Gardner the first time he saw her in the flesh.
Charlie becomes a town hero when he saves Sam from drowning as does Sylvan who was the first to jump in and follow the current. Some back story is necessary. Boatie Glass was a 48-year-old virgin when he went out to Sylvan's little secluded valley and offered her family two thousand dollars for their daughter. They could stay on the land, but if she ever left him he would repossess the place. Her parents were so poor they agreed. We now have a moral dilemma. Is this a legal marriage? She doesn't seem to think so. Sylan, although beautiful, is also an odd duck. Her whole existence is built around fantasy, mainly the movies and her favorite radio program, Helen Trent.
Okay, so Charlie and Sylvan have an affair. But Goolrick throws in a little bit of a quandary. For some reason Charlie takes Sam along. Anybody with a grain of sense would know that eventually the kid would get curious, and sure enough, he does. Charlie Beale is a decent, loveable man. He treats just about everybody with respect. He even tries to join the black church, because they seem to be having fun, while the Baptists and the Methodists just talk about what sinners we all are.
Eventually Boatie finds out about the affair, but it seems he's more upset about Charlie's popularity than the fact that the man is cuckolding him. He doesn't even like her that much. He's got a mistress on the side. But property is property, and he forces Sylan to do something she doesn't want to do or he'll take back her parents' farm.
It appears Sylvan is more loyal to her family, who has pretty much disowned her, than she is to Charlie. That's one theory anyway for the terrible thing that happens. But I kind of think you'll have your own. Some people will be angry that Goolrick doesn't explain it, but it's a better story this way. Another minor quibble is that Boatie Glass, the most despicable character in the book, doesn't get his comeuppance. We want to see him boiled in oil, skinned alive and drawn and quartered, but for all we know he died in bed at age 95 in his sleep.
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