‘Eli the Good’ brings us a story of small-town life we all may recognize

 

Editor’s note:  Anita Paddock’s review of books we should read are scheduled to appear on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Enjoy.

review by Anita Paddock

I discovered Silas House about 10 years ago with his book, “Clay’s Quilt,” a beautiful novel about the hill people of Kentucky. Since then, he’s written three more novels of Kentucky, the last one being “Eli the Good.”

House’s ability to give us a sense of place is one of his greatest talents. The reader feels like he or she lives in the small mountain towns where you sit on the front porch singing gospel songs and dance at roadside bars. In “Eli the Good,” House brings us back to a time of transistor radios; Zagnut candy bars; music by ABBA, David Cassidy, and Bob Seger; books like “The Outsiders” and movies like “The Bad News Bears.”

Another talent is his ability to tell a story in a lyrical, almost musical way. I suspect that comes natural for him since he comes from a musical family and writes reviews for many prominent music magazines. He also writes press kits for some of Nashville’s biggest stars including Lucinda Williams and Kris Kristofferson.

As an environmentalist, he is dedicated to preserving Appalachian folkways and Kentucky mountaintops.

In “Eli the Good,” a coming of age story that’s marketed for young adults (but grownups will love it, too), we meet a boy of 10 growing up in small town Kentucky during the time of our country’s bicentennial celebration. His father, Stanton, has nightmares from his tour in Vietnam, and Loretta, his mother, can’t shake her sad early years. His sister, Josie, is a rebellious teen, and his dad’s sister, Nell, is just a mess, having made a name for herself by being a war protester. She gives Eli the nickname, Eli the Good because he is, well, just so good.

Eli’s mother is beautiful. She loves to sing to the radio and dance in the kitchen while she’s cooking supper. Eli adores her, but he’s hurt when he hears her tell his daddy that she loves him more than anyone else. It’s the old Oedipus Complex thing. And the dad is always far away in a land where he once fought and saw men die.

This is a good story, where every main character has a secret. It is set in 1976, but in 2010, we still have daddies who go off to wars that cannot be won, and we will always have young boys who love their moms until puberty changes their minds. And it might make you dig through your old albums and dance in the kitchen to the likes of Bob Dylan or Joan Baez.

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One man who came back from war in 1968 is Tommy Crotzer. His war was in Korea, not in Vietnam. The Clarksville, Tenn., native says his two years in Korea was spent in an infantry outfit, even though he had advanced training in artillery.

“We lost people,” he says. “We were mostly looking for interceptors from the North who wanted to move into South Korea.”

As a boy growing up in the rolling hills of Tennessee, his favorite books were science books.

“I loved the pictures,” he says.

He graduated from Austin P. State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, went to work for Trane, and eventually moved to Fort Smith in 1985. He retired as a supervisor with Trane in 2004.

His days now are spent on the golf course pursuing a game he loves. He enjoys travel and seeing other golf courses. One of his favorite spots is on the Gulf Coast, and the last book he read and enjoyed was “Point Clear” by Jennifer Paddock.

“She describes the beautiful area on Mobile Bay perfectly in her book,” Tommy says. (And that makes this Paddock mama proud.)

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