Customer Reviews

White Crosses

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I picked this book up purely based on the interesting cover photograph and type-set. Basic plot: small town sheriff comes across an accident involving his small town's elementary school principal and a young girl fresh out of high school; he creates a story to protect both victims' reputations that ends up creating unexpected results. Although I thought Watson's highly descriptive prose was impressive, the book did drag at times as Sheriff Jack Nevelsen's thoughts went off onto seemingly unrelated tangents. I hadn't read any previous reviews and wasn't expecting the surprise finale. I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 3 purely because of the creative ending.

Larry Watson could be one of the best American writers alive today. I say could be. He's easily one of the most accessible authors when it comes to fiction about the western US. And he comes up with intriguing stories that really make you want to open the book to find out what happens.

But Watson has a problem with characters, particularly women. (Perhaps he should hook up with Robert Hellenga who wrote "The Sixteen Pleasures" to get an idea of how to present a female character.)

In "Laura" Watson depicts multiple negative female stereotypes. In "Justice" and "Orchard" the females are rather bland. Of the five Watson books I've read I'd say that "Montana 1948" is by far his best by a million miles. It's short, to the point, and packs a wallop. Perhaps that's because he focused on the pov of a young boy. Because of the set up we give him allowances. We don't expect a boy to know and understand the feelings and motivations of adults, especially women. So it works. Superbly in fact.

In "White Crosses" we have yet another intriguing story. Why was the principal in the car with the young girl? You open the book and you want to find out more.

"Crosses" is a good read. And I disagree with those who say the character asides are besides the point. Watson is not some Dean Koontz who wants us just to care about the plot. He wants us to get into the hearts and minds of his characters. To do that we need their thoughts and memories.

But still, as pointed out by a female reviewer here, Watson just can't handle those female characters. They're either beautiful or ugly. They're inexplicable. They're unaccessable. They're just not human.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the ending. You'll say aloud "No!" when you finish the tale. It's frustrating and tragic. Does it work? Yes, I think it does. Too often we get stuck on that unrealistic merry-go-round of happy endings. We forget reality, we forget that life is messy. Here, Watson reminds us that things don't always work out as planned.

Overall, a good book that could have been great. But I'm crossing my fingers for Larry Watson. Someday he'll get both the story and the female characters right. Someday he'll give us a female character with all those "annoying" asides with real thoughts and memories.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: why do some
writers insist on using characters' full names again and
again in the same paragraph/on the same page? When
two people are having a private conversation that concerns only those two people...it is not necessary to repeat their full names again and again. One need write only , "she said," not "Vivian Bauer said..." once we KNOW it's Vivian who is
speaking. It's a sort of Hemingway-ish thing to do, and it was one of the more mannered, contrived aspects of the great writer's work, too.

The sheriff was exasperating in his willingness to do anything to anyone to support an outright lie. Much of this did not make sense to me. I didn't feel his motivation was supported...I didn't feel I knew the town all that well to make the judgement that it was too fragile and insulated to be able to accept what in my mind was not that huge a scandal. I mean, the dead girl was eighteen, no longer really a child, though the sheriff referred to her that way. And the principal, Leo Bauer, was too removed for the reader to feel what he was truly all about. And the wife, Vivian, was a sort of male ideal of womanhood...she just never seemed very real to me...an alabaster statue. It did not seem plausible to me that Jack would leave his beloved child Angela to take up with her. Also, I didn't really get a handle on his relationship with his own wife, ony that he hadn't really "seen" her for years. But why? Why had they drifted apart? And whose fault was it, mostly? Jack's or Norah's?

Frankly, I didn't think the novel was very complimentary to women. They were either ugly or ideally beautiful; as a woman, I didn't identify with any of them.

Still, it was a poetic attempt. There were some lovely
descriptions of the countryside. And I think it would make
a dynamite movie, with someone like Will Patton in the lead.

If this writer overcomes his stilted literary stylization, he could turn out a masterpiece like "Affliction" by Russell Banks, another novel about a small-town cop gone "bad." He needs to "write loose" - let go and let the wind take him, instead of trying to control the words. He's already good, but he could be better. This review is meant to encourage. I think Watson has a great book in him. Let go and let God, Larry...

I very seldom read a book I don't care for, and quite a few of the reviews point that way. However, this book told a story of a man's perception of right and wrong. Jack's internal conflicts and his thoughts do get a little wordy, and he does have a problem relating to females. But the morality involved here is quite interesting. To say this couldn't happen in the small town you live in? Probably already has. It's an unfortunate slice of reality; nothing joyful, warm and fuzzy about this story, but it does create a thought process. I can't stop thinking about the ending... You won't believe it... Four stars just because the ending was such a surprise...as said before... NO PEAKING!

One reviewer in this series says (s)he "has never read a book in which so much was said about things of no relevance." It's that irrelevant material that makes White Crosses a winner for those who read fiction to find truth. Mr. Watson is a keen observer of the minutiae of human nature, and it's in that minutiae that White Crosses shines. It's the implausibilities of the basic events of plot that drag this book down from the four stars it might otherwise deserve.

I read Larry Watson's latest novel about 6 months ago, but just read the review by the Floridian given above, and feel compelled to respond to such an ill-tempered and vacuous review ("author must know the publisher"). Watson's book is, perhaps, his finest to date. A tender love story--with all the complex emotions (passion,responsibilities, guilt, and much more), human frailities (deceit, revenge, hate), and dumb luck (and unluck) that this invariably involves. Levels of love are layered as artfully as are Watson's stories within stories: to whom is one faithful--a lover, a wife, a family member,a friend, a community? And what is the meaning of "unfaithfulness." And what is the price we pay--as individuals, as family, and as community--for doing the "right" thing. I can only conclude that life in Florida must be a lot more boring and tiresome than it is in Bentrock, Montana (or most other spots I've been lucky to know). R. Schlack (rfs@carthage.edu), Kenosha, WI.

White Crosses develops a theme of the sheriff as being the perveyor of the public image of the county. Jack Nevelson, the sheriff of Bentrock, Montana, has an image of what his town should be and what people in his town should be like. When the principal of the elementary school and a teenage girl are found dead in a ditch, he wants to protect his town's image. He concocts a lie to cover up the truth. What is true about his town and about him evolves into a good story. Larry Watson is a good story teller, but at times he wanders a bit from his task. He does bring the reader back to the story in his due time. He shows the reader that what seems to be - isn't. Inside of small little towns are secrets worthy of any story tellers attention. Bentrock could be a lot of places. He just tells the secrets of Bentrock. Who is the keeper of the secrets and the standards of your town? Is it the sheriff?

Oh, well, I guess you either could love it or hate it. I'm an AP English student, and this book was on our list of AP-approved books. My teacher recommended it, so I read it. I really enjoyed this book. Most of the plot is based on Jack's internal conflicts and his thoughts. I have never read a book before in which the protagonist thought so much. This is not an action book-it is a thoughtful book. It is also very realistic. Some of the other reviewers said that they disliked the ending. I don't think you're really supposed to like the ending; it's not meant to be a happy ending! You're not even supposed to like Jack! He's somewhat despicable, and everything that happens to him as a result of his lie is his own fault. I think this book is brilliant, and I know there are other people out there who would think so, too.

I am giving this book four stars, but reading these reviews, I remember my own initial dislike of the endless asides in this book. The story begins with a bang, a juicy scandal and two deaths, but every tiny plot happening seems to be no more than a contrivance to allow for yet another flashback. The sheriff bends to tie his enormous shoe, launches into a reverie, then straightens up and looks around three pages later. As our tall sheriff plods through the windswept Montana prairie, can't he step a bit more quickly? But this oblique approach echoes the sidewinding trail the main character treads as he approaches the devastating internal truths at the heart of this story. It's like watching a man step slowly into quicksand and being unable to call out a warning. The ending is powerful, inevitable, excruciating ... and don't you DARE peek.

This book was poorly written. The author begins going on topics that are quite random fairly often.
The storyline was monotonous and had no progress until the end.
Unnecessary cussing was used frequently.
The only good thing I can say about it is the ending was a surprise.