Just East of Nowhere, Scot Lehigh
I grew up in a place that was actually called East —. When you are East of anywhere, it is like being a little bit pregnant; you haven’t quite made it. In this novel, nothing is quite as it seems.
Where I lived, as it was in this small town of Maine, some of us were popular, some of us were not. Some were nerds, some were just marking time. Some had goals, some had fears, but we all had to grow up and eventually face life, because what was the other alternative? Growing up involved growing pains, and this book really does a good job of exposing and exploring them, highlighting the conflicts teens face as they mature and deal with life and with those that populate their environment, who make it easier or more difficult on any given day.
Dan (Immanuel) Winters does not know his father, Lester Fortin. Lester was convicted of raping his mom, Clara Winters. After the trial, she moved from Lubec Maine, to Eastport Maine, to get away from “The Town Without Pity”, to another town like it, but in a place where she was anonymous. Still, she got away from one kind of gossip, only to deal with another. She became a “holy roller”, but she was known to be kind and caring. Dan Winters did not appreciate his mother until he discovered who she really was and dismissed the caricature others had made of her, and by extension, of him. He never felt as if he belonged, but rather he yearned not to feel lonely and adrift, without a father as an anchor. He was afraid that his father’s behavior would be visited upon him, and he feared it. Could he be violent too? He had to find him to discover who he might become. Was it inevitable or preventable?
Another teenager in Dan’s neighborhood huddled in his brother’s shadow, and he always felt like he was “less than”. Griff Kimball’s brother was a star athlete. Griff was mediocre, but he had passion too. His folks wanted him to do well and then to go into the family business. They believed in him in a different way than they believed in his brother. He wanted his folks and others to revere him the way they looked up to his brother. So, when Sonny Beal, a newcomer to town that everyone thought was “trouble”, showed some interest in him, he felt like he was special, and he jumped at the chance of a new friendship with this “bad seed”.
Sonny Beal was under the awful influence of his father, Curt Beal. Curt was not an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, but was quite the opposite, actually. Neither Sonny nor his dad believed in following any rules or regulations. They believed in really pushing the envelope. Sonny was a bad influence on Griff, because Griff was basically a good kid, but he was swayed when Sonny instigated and encouraged him to break the rules.
Susan Jameison wanted to be more popular. She was starry-eyed and dreamt of being sexually alluring, of having people gaze after her as she walked by. Her parents adored her and wanted her to go to the University of Maine, to live up to her potential. She wanted to feel and be more important than she was, as most of the teenagers did.
After Dan and Griff had a terrible fight, circumstances unexpectedly put Susan and Griff together, and they became an item. Dan was sent to a juvenile institution, after which he totally changed course and applied to Bates College. He was accepted and never returned to Eastgate until his mother died. He thought he had moved on.
All of the characters are suffering from the slings and arrows of growing up. All are confused, made mistakes and foolish decisions, even some that were dangerous. They rushed to conclusions that led to misunderstandings and misperceptions. They learned that If you weren’t a witness, you might not even always be able to trust the judgment of someone who was. Was there anything that was absolute, was totally black and white? Did everyone embellish their story to protect themselves? Was everyone able to lie even if it hurt others, in order for them to remain supposedly “innocent”?
Each of the characters kept secrets and told lies, some of which could be forgiven, some which could be forgotten, and some that were indelible and would stay with them forever. Were any of the lies and secrets justified? Did they eventually affect the outcome of their lives? How hard was it for them to grow up? How did they move on? Were they happy, successful, or were they failures?
The author allowed the characters to develop naturally into functioning human beings, but some functioned better than others. Do you agree with how things turned out? Did it feel authentic to you, the reader? For me it did. I really enjoyed the book, because it was not about today’s political propaganda or the author’s personal agenda to promote a particular view. Instead, it was just a good novel, easy to read, but often filled with the tension and frustration of life for a young adult, a parent, and those who ultimately have authority over us, whether deserved or undeserved. We are voyeurs watching them all react. Were the sins of the father visited upon their sons? Did some escape the judgment of their ancestors? Are those who instigated trouble as guilty as those who carried it out? So many questions arise about life and how we live it. It is a good book for a deeper discussion on the mindset of our youth.