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A review by ncrabb
Nothing More Dangerous by Allen Eskens
5.0
I’ve never read this author before, but I’m far from done with his books. This was compelling reading. Maybe it’s not quite Harper Lee “mockingbird” standards, but it’s way up there.
It’s 1976 as the book opens, and Eskens whisks you off to a small Missouri town—a place where civil rights laws may or may not apply. Boady Sanden is a poor, white kid who started hanging out with a bad crowd in public school. So, his mother moved him to a Catholic high school. He doesn’t fit in, but neither does the school’s only black girl, Diana. When some youthful Ku Klux Klan wannabes decide to pour chocolate pudding on her uniform at lunch, Boady trips the kid who reluctantly agreed to do the job. From that day forward, tensions build, and Boady’s life is never the same.
In a current events class, he reads a newspaper story about Lida Poe, a black woman who allegedly embezzled money from her employer and split town.
He thought little of it and the pudding incident until a black family move in across the street. This is fascinating to Boady. He assumed blacks in town stayed in the Goat Hill section. He never thought they could just live anywhere in town.
He has a wise and often sad neighbor who advises him on a variety of life issues, not the least of which is the new family. Boady’s dad died in a work accident when the boy was five, so the neighbor played a crucial part in his upbringing. His mom is painfully shy and suffers from bouts of severe depression. Boady just wants out of the small constricting town, and the day he turns 16, he’s dropping out of school and hitting the road. He has some money buried in the woods near the house, and he figures he can get an old pickup with some of it and live on the rest until he finds work. But the existence of the new family in the neighborhood changes things. Boady and Thomas become friends despite a rough start, and the friendship carries a high price. Many of the kids at St. Ignatius High School don’t like the idea of young men of different races hanging out together, and the problems mount for Boady and Thomas.
This is at once a hope-filled and heartbreaking story of racial divisions and the courage necessary to find common ground and focus on that in the spirit of love, friendship, and unity.
In addition to the racial elements here, there’s the mystery of whatever happened to Lida Poe and all that money. Boady and Thomas work toward a solution, and in so doing, they must deal with a recalcitrant sheriff.
Tensions run high at various points of this book, and I couldn’t help thinking as I read it what a splendid discussion it would make for a book club.
I loved the writing style. It drew me in and kept me reading and enthralled to the final page. The narration is excellent, too.
It’s 1976 as the book opens, and Eskens whisks you off to a small Missouri town—a place where civil rights laws may or may not apply. Boady Sanden is a poor, white kid who started hanging out with a bad crowd in public school. So, his mother moved him to a Catholic high school. He doesn’t fit in, but neither does the school’s only black girl, Diana. When some youthful Ku Klux Klan wannabes decide to pour chocolate pudding on her uniform at lunch, Boady trips the kid who reluctantly agreed to do the job. From that day forward, tensions build, and Boady’s life is never the same.
In a current events class, he reads a newspaper story about Lida Poe, a black woman who allegedly embezzled money from her employer and split town.
He thought little of it and the pudding incident until a black family move in across the street. This is fascinating to Boady. He assumed blacks in town stayed in the Goat Hill section. He never thought they could just live anywhere in town.
He has a wise and often sad neighbor who advises him on a variety of life issues, not the least of which is the new family. Boady’s dad died in a work accident when the boy was five, so the neighbor played a crucial part in his upbringing. His mom is painfully shy and suffers from bouts of severe depression. Boady just wants out of the small constricting town, and the day he turns 16, he’s dropping out of school and hitting the road. He has some money buried in the woods near the house, and he figures he can get an old pickup with some of it and live on the rest until he finds work. But the existence of the new family in the neighborhood changes things. Boady and Thomas become friends despite a rough start, and the friendship carries a high price. Many of the kids at St. Ignatius High School don’t like the idea of young men of different races hanging out together, and the problems mount for Boady and Thomas.
This is at once a hope-filled and heartbreaking story of racial divisions and the courage necessary to find common ground and focus on that in the spirit of love, friendship, and unity.
In addition to the racial elements here, there’s the mystery of whatever happened to Lida Poe and all that money. Boady and Thomas work toward a solution, and in so doing, they must deal with a recalcitrant sheriff.
Tensions run high at various points of this book, and I couldn’t help thinking as I read it what a splendid discussion it would make for a book club.
I loved the writing style. It drew me in and kept me reading and enthralled to the final page. The narration is excellent, too.