A Calling for Charlie Barnes

 

A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris (2021) 342 pages

I have to admit that this novel had what I considered a slow start. Charlie Barnes—a 68 year old guy from Danville, Illinois who never made it big, who had several failed marriages, who told stories that might not have been exactly true—is convinced that he has pancreatic cancer and will die soon. No one seems to believe him, because he's been that sort of man. He just wasn't that loveable or relatable for me. But after I looked again at the cover of the book and saw a glowing blurb by Andrew Sean Greer, whose own character, Less, has been one of my favorite quirky characters, I gave Charlie another chance.

At first there was the mystery of the narrator (which was also a thing in Greer's book), but once that was settled (or was it??), then the story improves by leaps and bounds, yanking my brain with surprising turns. Entertaining and philosophical. I recommend it!

Anything is Possible

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, 254 pages. Narrated by Kimberly Farr.
A truly wonderful collection of interconnected stories that follows the people living in Amgash, Illinois. Lucy Barton, the main character of Strout's previous book, grew up here, and all the characters in this latest work know her or knew her or her family, and many of the townspeople express strong feelings about her and her (fictional) work. There is a lot of pain and anguish here, but it's revealed in an almost unsentimental way that makes it possible for the reader and most of the characters to get through. Everyone is carrying around secrets and hidden wounds in the town of Amgash. Really worth the read. I read the author's Olive Kittredge years ago, but had avoided her subsequent books for some reason I look forward to catching up on all of them now.

The River Between Us

The River Between Us by Richard Peck  164 pp.

This young adult novel begins in the summer of 1916, with a St. Louis doctor taking a road trip with his children to visit elderly relatives in Illinois. It then flashes back to the time when those relatives were young. Twins Tilly and Noah Pruitt live in the tiny town of Grand Tower, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River in the early days of the Civil War with their mother and their sister, Cass, who 'sees' things. When a mysterious woman and her servant arrive from New Orleans on the last boat before the river is blockaded, their lives are changed forever. Tilly's mother takes the pair in as boarders, the townspeople suspect them of being spies and the women of the town are upset at the attention their menfolk pay to the beautiful Delphine. Noah is smitten with Delphine even though she seems much older than his 15 years. After the war begins in earnest, Noah enlists and is sent to Cairo, IL where he and most of the other soldiers become seriously ill with dysentery. Tilly's mother sends Tilly and Delphine to find him and bring him home. The young women end up staying in Cairo, nursing the sick soldiers with the help of the former town doctor from Grand Tower. Eventually the truth about the "quadroon" background of Delphine and Calinda comes out, Noah is wounded in the Battle of Belmont, Missouri, and they all return home to Grand Tower. The last chapter returns to 1916 when the children from St. Louis learn more about their family's history.

This story takes place in the "Little Egypt" area of southern Illinois and most of the places mentioned are familiar ones to most St. Louisans. Towns as far north as Belleville are mentioned. Notes at the end give a brief history of the "free people of color" in New Orleans. Newbery award winning author, Peck, creates entertaining historical fiction through detailed, imaginative characters that are correct for the period.