Lies

by William Hoffman

Young Wayland Garrett's life story is one composed of lies. Yet, that story is compelling, not only for the journey he takes to become a man but also for the language in which his story is told, deceptive though it may be. In words of quiet beauty and with effortless grace, author William Hoffman takes us back to the tobacco country of Depression-era Virginia, where Wayland’s story begins. His past is peopled by spectral his mother—a proud, upright woman worn thin and tough by poverty and ceaseless toil; his daddy—who taught his boys to live off the land and take what was needed but died broken and unable to provide for his family the only way he knew; and the Ballards—wealthy landowners who were the gods of their own pastoral heaven, prospering from the sweat of others and expecting thanks for the privilege. Wayland flees from this life to war-torn Europe, where he struggles to find courage buried within, despite his ever-present fear in a land burdened by destruction and carnage. Following Germany’s surrender, Wayland flees again, this time to Southern Florida, where he reinvents himself through deception, of both himself and those around him. Finally, Wayland looks back at the land he left behind—Howell County, Virginia—and the innocent, ignorant boy he left in its fields. As he recalls his struggle toward manhood and independence, he must decide how much of this life he should now reveal to his cultured wife and beautiful daughter, who know nothing of hunger and want, and how much will stay buried under the dust of his past and remain hidden by lies.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2005

Reviews

[Brian Fagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lies is a fictitious remembrance, a series of remembrances interspersed with Wayland's present life in which he is making a secret pilgrimage to the site of his childhood. In the end, the book turns out to be a tender reminiscence of the joys, hurts, lessons and aching desires of his childhood and adolescence. The official summary on the novel's publisher's page says, "Wayland Garnett, a successful businessman, wants to come to terms with the past he has hidden from his wife and daughter. He attempts to shake off the chains of his poverty-stricken upbringing by revisiting the Virginia countryside of his youth for the first time in forty years." His youth occurred in the 1930's and 40's, when his father was a sharecropper for the owners of the land, primarily used for tobacco farming. The present seems to be somewhere between 1975 and 1985.

I loved this banter:

"And the way you talked. I believed I detected submerged hick."

"Virginia gentlemen have levels of dialect suited to the propriety of the occasion."

That's Wayland's wife teasing him about little remnants of a backwoods accent he has, not long after their marriage. That would be funny, except that it is a tragedy that Wayland is deeply ashamed of his impoverished past and has worked like hell to eliminate all traces of it in his speech and behavior. Can you imagine having to live like that - being scared to honestly talk about your past with the person you love ?

[Martin Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, great book by a writer I hope more people will discover. Years ago, I wrote this about LIES and Hoffman: "Here's a test if you're debating whether or not to purchase this book: at random, open it to any page and start reading, and I'm willing to bet you'll find the writing luminous, compelling and absolutely magical. William Hoffman is a living legend, and LIES is unimpeachable proof of his prodigious talent." I'm not sure why he never caught on in a bigger way.

[Paths and Pages, or just Em :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

“He had suffered wounds to his body that had mended, but there were injuries inflicted on the self and psyche past all healing the years could provide as…”

Although never having read anything from William Hoffman until now, it only took a few pages before his subtle, yet poetic way of setting the scene and journey ahead had me researching more of his works. Hoffman creatively integrates the main character’s present-day moments that link to flashbacks from his earlier life, adding so much depth and emotion to the story. The tobacco fields and banks of Virginia add to this thought-provoking book’s vivid backdrop, showing how our pasts hold more candid truth than we would sometimes like to admit to.

“…of summer when a boy treads down from the canopy of shredded pine shadows into sunlight that smites and demands a squint. He shades his eyes to gaze across a flat expanse of low ground – broad cultivated acres astride the willow-lined muddy river, this soil not red clay but black loam yearly enriched by spring floodings. No need to spread manure or scatter fertilizer. Corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa, and most important of all tobacco nigh on to leap from this fecund earth.”

[Tim Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not finish!

[Misha · Rating 2 out of 5]

BookList: Sometimes one must obscure or even bury the past to live in the present. Wayland Garnett grew up with extreme poverty in -Depression-era Virginia, toiling in the tobacco fields for the Ballards, a wealthy family who owned nearly everything and everybody in Howell County. Taught by his daddy that hunger dont know dirt, Wayland and all of his sons quickly learned to steal from the Ballards bounty. After his siblings left and his parents died, Wayland served in World War II and then moved to Florida, where he established a business of his own. Erasing all traces of his hick heritage, he marries a beautiful younger woman from whom he hides his true upbringing. When he revisits Howell County, however, he must decide whether he can go on lying to his wife and daughter. Hoffmans fourteenth novel is written in a stripped, straightforward style with frequent flashbacks to Waylands past. It eloquently exposes what happens when we become the tall tales we tell about ourselves. -- MishaStone (Reviewed 09-01-2005) (Booklist, vol 102, number 1, p64)

[Kaitlin Justus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't want the story to end at some points. I liked the style of telling the story from flashback and present day. I didn't like the war/army story in the book. That's only because I don't read or watch war themed anything. So I would have rated it higher if the war plot was omitted.