Clint McCown

Nolan Vann is having a rough year. He just lost his job (fired by his father for forging an insurance policy), his wife is having an affair (and is possibly pregnant by the "other man"), and to top it all off, he's forced to work as a repo man to pay the bills. Oh, and he kills his wife's pet lizard.
In this slight novel, Clint McCown takes the small Southern town and rehashes familiar characters to give us a comic novel. The readers somehow feels as though we've been down this path before. What makes McCown's novel different, though, is his innate understanding (and this is reflected in the dialogue and actions of his characters) of the Southern persona. Whether he's describing a hunt for cottonmouths in the river (for the church, of course), or Nolan's rival blowing himself up on his bulldozer, McCown has the perfect ear for true Southern idiosyncrasy.
Albeit a novel about Nolan's search to regain his "manhood", it is also a search for the younger generation to understand why their fathers fought so hard and proud for their country. It is also a search to understand the hidden meanings behind people's actions and why we hurt each other.
I'm not sure this novel works out many of these problems, or even resolves the thornier question of whether Nolan gets his life back together, faces his demons and lives a fruitful life, but it does have the unique quality of showing a human face to failure and eventually, redemption. The power of the novel lies in its ability to evoke a place and a feeling of "Southernness". The plot is ordinary, but the description and dialogue is refreshing and enjoyable.
This is a novel for those who enjoy Clyde Edgerton or other "quirky" Southern writers, perhaps even the quiet gentility of a Eudora Welty story. Clint McCown is an author who should be looked out for in the future. We should be so lucky to meet some of his small-town characters in his next, bright novel.
(Read February 2002)… (mehr)