This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

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Photo from Simon and Schuster

12 year old Odie O'Bannon lies his way to expensive new shoes for himself, his older brother Albert, and their buddy Mose. In the tale he spins for the shopkeeper's wife, Odie expresses such longing that "even I felt sorry for me" (107).

His real story is tough enough: they're escaping a labor camp for orphans, heading down the Mississippi on a raft. It's the Depression in the Midwest, and the boys are wanted by the police because, first, Odie killed an abusive instructor and, second, the boys supposedly kidnapped the little girl Emmy. In truth, they have rescued her from the despicable matron of the orphanage.

So early in the novel This Tender Land, author William Kent Krueger is calling to mind both Charles Dickens' plucky orphans and Mark Twain's resourceful liar Huck Finn. Odie even takes the cover name "Buck."

Krueger shows a special affinity for portraying young adults who have intelligence, sensitivity, and a fierce sense of justice. In his crime series featuring detective Cork O'Connor, the most affecting storylines involve children, including Cork's own and also Cork himself in childhood. [See appreciations of the Cork series at my Crime Fiction page] Krueger's other stand-alone novel Ordinary Grace also features brothers forced suddenly to grow up -- along with their parents.

Each section of This Tender Land has its own arc, as the kids land in a different community, learn how to survive or thrive there, and then have to escape. Through all the episodes, we witness Odie's growing understanding of the love between him and his brother, Mose's deepening sense of identity, and the emergence of a kind of mystical power in Emmy.

Late in the book, we learn Odie's full name, Odysseus. How could I have missed that other literary connection? (Especially since one of the bad guys early on is a cyclops, "One-Eyed Jack"). While Dickens and Twain wrote in wholly material worlds, Homer filled the world of his story with gods and sorcery. Krueger, too, opens his story to the possibility of spiritual forces involved in the lives of his characters.

The first words of the book allude to Genesis, how God created not only the heavens and the earth, but also the gift of storytelling. Odie is not only a storyteller, but a musician whose harmonica soothes bitter men and brings people together. The most charismatic character among the supporting cast is a beautiful but scarred faith healer who calls herself Eve. Her section of the book is called "High Heaven" (as in, something stinks to...), but the miracles don't end when her deceptions are exposed.

By the end, Krueger has made us feel something that must motivate the novelist: Good storytelling doesn't just open up the past, or just entertain in the present, but can change the future.

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