To be sung underwater, by Tom McNeal

A brief, but good, review in the NYT led me to put this on novel on reserve, and I do now wonder a little bit about the review. Although the writing is evocative, the story seemed hackneyed: Young girl (Judith) is transplanted from the east coast to rural Nebraska when her parents split up; meets attractive older carpenter (Willy) who finds her "muy peligroso;" has memorable summer romance before leaving for Stanford where she ditches him for suave college student. Twenty-seven years later, she “swerves” in her life, as she puts it; assumes a new identity and recreates her Nebraska room with the birds-eye maple bedroom set and antique quilt in a storage locker in LA; seeks and finds her Nebraska fella….sad but predictable ending. The descriptive writing is very lovely, particularly of the high plains, however, serious literary fiction this is not. It is a well-written, humorous, weepy romance for the summer – it would be wonderful to read it at the enchanting “Camp Blue Moon,” that Willy builds in the back country for Judith in the enduring hope she will return to him. I see a movie treatment a la Bridges of Madison County. 448 pp.