Forty-nine-year-old Toots Henslee's near-idyllic solitude - he lives in a tree house overlooking a river near Nashville - is invaded by Sally Ann Shaw, a wannabe country-western singer on the lam from her hoodlum boyfriend, from whom she's stolen a quarter of a million dollars. Yount's fourth novel is a wry fable about identity and commitment, responsibility and the vagaries of love.
This has long been one of my very favorite novels. I reread it not too long ago. It holds up beautifully. It is a meditation on solitude that is extremely exciting, often funny and very satisfying.
I didn’t plan on liking this book, but as I continued reading I began to imagine it as a movie. In my film Sally Ann is played by Reese Witherspoon and Toots by Tommy Lee Jones. Matthew McConaughey has to play Jerry and I keep envisioning Woody Harrelson as the gangster Sally Ann escapes from. It’s going to win an Oscar 😁
I don't remember ever rating a book five stars. But Yount cannot be denied his rightful salute. His characters are as real as any fictitional characters could be and far more believable than many actual people I've met. I don't know what more I could say.