Finding CarusoSeven years separate Buddy from his big brother, Lee, but the boys have always been close, comforting and protecting each other as their father-defeated by poor land and hostile weather-sank deeper into alcohol and rage. When a drink-fueled accident takes not only his life but that of the mother who tried so hard to shield her sons, the boys sell off what little remains of their daddy's tenant farm and leave Oklahoma. It is 1957, and work is still to be had in the logging camps of northern Idaho. But just outside Snake Junction, they stop at a roadhouse; and there, Lee's country-and-western talents get him a job. The two settle in, Lee to his music-and women and drink-and seventeen-year-old Buddy to roaming the landscape, at loose ends until a woman nearly twice his age turns up. Irene Sullivan is a smoky beauty, and Lee makes a play for her. But it is Buddy she wants. By turns darkly violent and heartbreakingly tender, "Finding Caruso" is a work of extraordinary emotional power from an astonishingly original writer. |
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ain't arms asked Aunt Esther basalt beneath boots breath brother Buddy caught Celery Chevy cigarette cottonwood damn dark Dean door drink eyes face father feel felt fingers fire Floyd gave gelding girl glass goat going Guess hackamore hair hand hard Harv Harvey hear heard held hell horse Irene Irene's Jack Daniel's keep knew Lapwai Laurette leaned Lee's legs lips looked maraschino cherries mecate mother mouth neck never Nez Perce night nodded okay Oklahoma palomino pants Penne all'arrabbiata pocket Poison ivy pulled Raimey remembered ring river road rock rubbed shirt shit shook his head shoulder singing slapped smell smiled smoke Snake Junction Spud Stables station wagon stay stepped stood stopped sure sweat tell There's things thought took turned voice waiting walked watched Westin What's window Wolfchild woman wondered yellowjacket