Musings from Brian J. Noggle

Book Review: Skylar in Yankeeland by Gregory McDonald (1997)

How could I pass any novel by the author who created Fletch when the library's offering donated (not library copy) hardbacks for a quarter? I couldn't! So even though this particular novel only hit my shelves recently, it enjoys the LIFO processing that the most compelling, and quickest-looking, reads enjoy. Let's face it. Brian's book shelves don't enjoy proper rotation, which explains why The Sound and the Fury and its companions in a big Barnes and Noble Faulkner four-pack are enjoying the beginning of their second decade of dust-gathering, but this book flew off.

This book is a sequel to a book called Skylar, which I have not read. This book makes some reference to the earlier book, but it's not required.

The plot, basically: Skylar, a country boy from Tennessee, comes to Boston for to go to a prestigious music school on a scholarship. Before he gets that far, he stays a couple nights with his wealthy relations. Sort of like if I lived with the Kerrys, maybe. But I digress. He's a bird in the water, so to speak (ah, what one does to avoid clichés!) since he exudes native simplicity. Underneath it, though, he's pretty sharp. So the book riffs on this disparity between how it's done in The South and in Yankeeland. The book is billed as a crime novel, but there's little, incidental crime in it. Much of the pleasure in the book comes in the character interplay.

Let's see, we've got five million dollars' worth of jewelry missing, and Skylar's thirteen-year-old cousin is strongly suspected of murdering her junior high rival. We've got Skylar's older cousin's fiancé hitting on the strapping country lad and then dreaming rape sequences when he doesn't respond. We've got rich relations on the brink of fiscal disaster. As Skylar appears, these things happen around him, and he gets to be the straight man and observer ot the mysteries' resolutions.

Granted, the characters are somewhat stereotypical. If this were Steinbeck or Morrison, undoubtedly I would use the word "archetype" instead. Still, it was a quick and amusing read, and well worth at least twice as much as I paid for it. It's particularly amusing if you are more non-coastal in nature and aren't one of the bad archetypes lightly mocked by the good archetypes. A good, quick read.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:40 PM