“All the dying that summer began with the death of a child, a boy with golden hair and thick glasses, killed on the railroad tracks outside New Bremen, Minnesota, sliced into pieces by a thousand tons of steel speeding across the prairie toward South Dakota.”
I LOVE when I can tell from the first page, from the first sentence even, that a book is going to be good. Memorable stories are like that. I enjoy authors who jump right into it, who are frank in their writing and who have a genuine voice for their characters. I also like to learn a little something about life and the ways of the world from the books I read. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger gave me all of that within its first three paragraphs – this is when you know you have a good book in your hands. But even more importantly than all of that, Ordinary Grace introduced me to a boy with a story I wanted to hear, a story worth telling.
The time is the summer of 1961. The place is New Bremen, Minnesota. Little Bobby Cole has just turned up dead on the railroad tracks by the river and his isn’t the only death this town will see this summer. Thirteen-year-old Frank Drum is a boy coming of age amid the tumults of his town and family. Told in retrospect, 40 years after the fateful events took place, this story is his. It is the story of a preacher father, once suffering from PTSD before it had a name, taken to ministering to the broken and fallen. It is the story of a tagalong, stuttering brother, who sees what everyone else is too blind to see. It is the story of a musical sister, destined for Julliard, but giving up her dream behind secrets and tears. It is the story of a wayward Indian man who hangs out by the river and evokes suspicion just for being born who he was. It is the story of a disfigured blind man and his deaf sister, who have learned to make it in this world by leaning on each other. It is the story of a father’s errant friend from the war, who shows up one day and makes a home in the church basement. It is the story of a teenage bully, intent on terrorizing the entire town at his own expense. It is the story of four dead souls by summer’s end. It is the story of New Bremen, Minnesota - Summer, 1961.
What I loved about this book is that it had a real sense of people and place – Krueger does a fine job of painting a picture of New Bremen and its citizens for the reader. Also, if you like your novels to have a nostalgic small-town feel with a bit of grit and dirt thrown in, then you’ll like Ordinary Grace. Reminiscent of Stand by Me with a helping of The Wonder Years and a sprinkling of My Girl, Ordinary Grace captures the essence of what we love about each of these films.
I am a big fan of the database Novelist Plus, and I want to start including some information from it in my reviews to help you make better reading choices! Novelist categorizes each book by APPEALS, which you will see used below. You are free to browse the Novelist Plus database at your own leisure and check out your favorite books. Over time, you may notice a pattern in the appeals of your favorite books! For example, I have noticed that I have a tendency to prefer books that have a character-driven storyline and a compelling storyline, as in Ordinary Grace!
Ordinary Grace Novelist Appeals
GENRES: Adult Books for Young Adults, Coming-of-Age Stories, Mystery Stories, Psychological Fiction
TONE: Haunting, Melancholy, Nostalgic, Strong Sense of Place
STORYLINE: Character-driven
WRITING STYLE: Compelling
Ordinary Grace is available at Lafourche Parish Library’s South Lafourche and Thibodaux branches, and as always, if you don’t live nearby, it can be transferred to a branch near you for your reading enjoyment! Happy reading!