Inman (Old Dogs and Children, 1991, etc.) returns with another small-town southern tale, this time focusing on a boy's...

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DAIRY QUEEN DAYS

Inman (Old Dogs and Children, 1991, etc.) returns with another small-town southern tale, this time focusing on a boy's coming of age during the late '70s. Young Trout Mosely has to move back to Mosely, Georgia, a company town named after his grandfather, when his mother, Irene, suddenly checks into an Atlanta psychiatric facility. Trout's father, Joe Pike, an ex-football player and Methodist preacher, goes off the deep end as well, refurbishing an old Triumph motorcycle and roaring toward Texas, mouthing homely platitudes about the Good Lord's intentions. Joe Pike is forcibly transferred back to the Methodist Church in Mosely, where his sermons astound his sister, matriarch of the dying mill, and amuse an older brother, a whiskey-besotted ex-spy named Phinizy who's come home to die. There's also an embittered, handicapped girl who was run over by a Mosely truck when she was four; she and Trout get jobs at the Dairy Queen, where together they puzzle over the flaws and foibles of their parents and do some growing up. Joe Pike comes in, occasionally, to slurp Blizzards and meditate out loud on the Dairy Queen as the center of the universe. In addition, Inman introduces a canny local sheriff, a gay cousin in Atlanta, and sundry other colorful types, and, sometimes, his blend of humor, sorrow, and down-home charm makes for a touching evocation of growing up. More often, though, Inman seems to have taken on too much and can't satisfactorily work it all out. When Trout heads off on his dad's Triumph to visit his mother, his adventures on the road seem contrived. Worse, his mother, when he finally sees her, has no wisdom to communicate. Worse still, Joe Pike never pulls himself together and, in the end, is just more pathetic than tragic. Inman's likable tone and command of his settings aren't enough to redeem his overloaded story, which winds down into a forced, unsatisfying conclusion.

Pub Date: March 19, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 288

Publisher: "Little, Brown"

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997

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