Country People

I’m giving this book three stars, but I don’t want that to be interpreted as me not liking it. I would absolutely recommend it to someone in the mood for something fun, whimsical, and low-stress. It wasn’t anything especially memorable for me, but it was very well done for a chill summer read.

I personally really enjoyed the observations about people during the family’s transition from the Bay Area to rural Vermont. I spent several years in the Bay Area myself before coming back home to Utah and settling in a more rural town, so I got a kick out of being able to picture the exact Bay Area culture Miles is referring to.

The descriptions of rural people also seem like they could have very easily slipped into something ignorant or condescending, but I never actually got that sense. Mason gives us the wide variety of personalities, opinions, and eccentricities you might come across in any small town, and I felt like he portrayed them with affection rather than making them the butt of the joke.

I’m generally put off by male protagonists who seem to be drifting through a prolonged state of helpless adolescence, and Miles definitely falls into that category. But that wasn’t a make-or-break feature of the novel for me.

The story is fairly meandering, with a lot of ideas and plot points that seem to be thrown in mostly for fun, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you know what you’re getting into. The main conspiracy Miles falls into is quite fun, but I actually thought it almost got lost in everything else happening along the way. I was getting close to the end and wondering how there could possibly be enough time to wrap anything up, and then we got an epilogue or two that hurriedly tied a bow on pretty much everything. An overall charming little read.

Book author: Daniel Mason