A review by sdecoste
Groundskeeping by Lee Cole

4.0

For those of us who live in Louisville, this was a fun read with recognizable streets, bars, restaurants and parks sprinkled throughout. But the story takes a deep dive into class and relationships, as Owen Callahan and Alma Hadzic navigate the difficulty of meshing their different backgrounds into a present day relationship. Owen grew up in rural Kentucky. Amazingly, in spite of some serious drug use, Owen graduated from college, and then he drifted from one menial job to another. His divorced parents were often perplexed with his choice of becoming a writer, but their love for him never wavered. Eventually, penniless, Owen ends up living in his grandfather's basement and working as a groundskeeper at a small liberal arts college, taking one free writing class. He meets Alma, who is a Bosnian refugee. She and her parents moved to the Washington, DC area, where they worked hard to assimilate and thrive. Alma graduated from Princeton and now has a job as writer-in-residence at this small Kentucky college. Owen and Alma's relationship is fraught with landmines. Their backgrounds and motivations are so different, it's hard to see how their relationship will survive. The pace of the novel is a little slow, but the writing is wonderfully descriptive.