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Paul Landrum is exorcising his demons as he revisits his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His years of higher education were contentious as he dealt with obnoxious hazing from classmates along with economic woes at home which forced him to get a job. A phone call from his home state of Oklahoma necessitates Paul’s confrontation with trauma that has lingered since the 1940s. The Landrums lived in the nexus of the Dust Bowl, where running a farm had never been a more precarious venture. Paul lived with his brother, Tim, along with his father and grandfather. The lack of production on the farm left the Landrums’ farm, along with neighboring farms, ripe for foreclosure. The possibility of oil underneath the farms also left the Landrums vulnerable to Big Oil.
Hardship is the predominant factor that runs through the story of the Landrums. The tragic loss of the family matriarch leaves an enduring mark on the men in the Landrum household. Paul is an inquisitive and intelligent boy who admires the older men in the house and desires to measure up to them. An emotional estrangement between Paul and his father, Jake, figures into a large part of the narrative and the development of Paul through the years. The author eloquently conveys the maturation of Paul as he evolves in an age where a world war rages, calamity surfaces with alarming frequency, and sorrow is an all too familiar feeling. This endearing historical fiction book proves more than satisfying in its depth and emotional range.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review