TEMPEST

An embattled teen finds strength while living a tumultuous life that forces him to rely on himself in Krause’s novel.

Carlton Pearson, born in the mid-1970s, grows up in Pearsons Corners, an isolated village in Arkansas. His family lives in a trailer home behind the gas station and convenience store that his father runs. The boy is a full decade younger than his brother, Dink, a star on the high school football team. When Dink unexpectedly dies before his high-school graduation, Carlton’s mother is grief-stricken and all but ignores her other son for years. Further tragedy makes Carlton an orphan when he’s only 15, and he moves in with his wealthy uncle in a bigger city. But the teen’s heart remains in Pearsons Corners, to which he soon returns. Still in school, Carlton lives and works in a church, the same one his family had attended. Unfortunately, he butts heads with the church’s haughty pastor, Richard Lombard, who simply doesn’t like the boy, mostly due to his “fraternizing” with Lombard’s high-school-aged daughter Mira. Carlton ultimately realizes that he’ll be better off if he goes out on his own. He finds work and a place to sleep, all while remaining in school with every intention of earning his diploma. As he saves money, he looks into securing property, sparking a frustrating dispute with the same pastor Carlton thought he had escaped; it turns out Lombard is quite a vengeful person, and he goes after Carlton in a decidedly underhanded fashion.

Krause’s novel is a surprisingly quick read, considering the number of years that the story covers. Taut prose delivers backstory and present-day action without decelerating the narrative. Carlton’s relaxed, memoir-style narration is engaging. He occasionally addresses readers directly, as when he stresses that this tale told in retrospect has the benefit of his later education (“I have learned a few things since then”). It’s fascinating to watch Carlton evolve and mature; he begins as a passive kid who has no choice but to take charge of his own life. (“‘Lombard,’ I said. He glanced at me over his shoulder. ‘Don’t ever touch me again.’ I was ready for whatever he did next. I was ready to move on, if that’s what transpired. Whatever else happened, he was not going to push me again.”) He also changes physically—he’s bullied for his “chubby body” before he surges in height and becomes someone capable of defending himself. Notwithstanding the unsavory individuals Carlton encounters throughout his life, he’s often surrounded by engaging, amiable supporting characters—he befriends elderly local Orel, a Black woman whose personal story highlights the issue of racism in 20th-century America (Carlton himself is white but experiences the same level of poverty as Orel). Mira, like Orel, is consistently likable, even when being brutally honest (which may or may not entail humbling Carlton). There are several shocking turns in the plot, from an increasingly heated argument between Carlton’s parents to an incident involving one of his mentors to the unforgettable final act.

A hard-hitting but heartfelt story about overcoming years of misfortune.