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Blues Lessons
In the lush countryside of 1950s Michigan, young Martin Dijksterhuis has everything he could ever want, living among his extended family and working in his family's orchard fields. Despite his mother's plans for him to attend college in Chicago, he has no desire to leave home.
One autumn, in a camp of migrant farm workers, Martin discovers a music that touches him like nothing before -- the unsettling melodies and timeless words of the country blues. He also falls in love with Corinna, the daughter of the black foreman who runs the orchards. He ends up fathering her child, only to lose her in a stunning betrayal. Martin's music and his love for Corinna are the two themes of his life. His struggle to combine them in a single story takes him far from home and the life he had always envisioned for himself, only to bring him back again in a way he could never have imagined.
In this beautifully rendered novel, Robert Hellenga explores the fragility of happiness, the struggle to discover one's true calling in life, and the sorrows and satisfactions of family.
One autumn, in a camp of migrant farm workers, Martin discovers a music that touches him like nothing before -- the unsettling melodies and timeless words of the country blues. He also falls in love with Corinna, the daughter of the black foreman who runs the orchards. He ends up fathering her child, only to lose her in a stunning betrayal. Martin's music and his love for Corinna are the two themes of his life. His struggle to combine them in a single story takes him far from home and the life he had always envisioned for himself, only to bring him back again in a way he could never have imagined.
In this beautifully rendered novel, Robert Hellenga explores the fragility of happiness, the struggle to discover one's true calling in life, and the sorrows and satisfactions of family.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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85 people want to read
About the author
Robert Hellenga
11 books65 followersRobert Hellenga was an American novelist, essayist, and short story author.
His eight novels included The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, Philosophy Made Simple, The Italian Lover, Snakewoman of Little Egypt, The Confessions of Frances Godwin and Love, Death, & Rare Books. In addition to these works, he wrote a novella, Six Weeks in Verona, along with a collection of short stories in The Truth About Death and Other Stories. Hellenga also published scholarly essays and literary or travel essays in various venues, including The National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler, and The Gettysburg Review.
Hellenga was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Milwaukee and Three Oaks, Michigan. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and his graduate work at the Queen’s University of Belfast, the University of North Carolina, and Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton and began teaching English literature at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1968. In 1973–74 he was co-director of the ACM Seminar in the Humanities at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and in 1982–83 he directed the ACM Florence programs in Florence, Italy. He also worked and studied in Bologna, Verona, and Rome. He was distinguished writer in residence and professor emeritus at Knox College. Hellenga was married and had three daughters.
Hellenga received awards for his fiction from the Illinois Arts Council and from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sixteen Pleasures received The Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction published in 1994. The Fall of a Sparrow was included in the Los Angeles Times list of the "Best Fiction of 1998" and the Publishers Weekly list of the "Best 98 Books." Snakewoman of Little Egypt, was included in The Washington Post's list of "The Best Novels of 2010" and Kirkus Reviews' list of "2010 Best Fiction: The Top 25." The audio version of Snakewoman was a 2011 Audie Award Winner for Literary Fiction. The Confessions of Frances Godwin received The Society of Midland Authors' Award for fiction published in 2014.
Hellenga died of neuroendocrine cancer on July 18, 2020, at his home in Galesburg, Illinois.
His eight novels included The Sixteen Pleasures, The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons, Philosophy Made Simple, The Italian Lover, Snakewoman of Little Egypt, The Confessions of Frances Godwin and Love, Death, & Rare Books. In addition to these works, he wrote a novella, Six Weeks in Verona, along with a collection of short stories in The Truth About Death and Other Stories. Hellenga also published scholarly essays and literary or travel essays in various venues, including The National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times Sophisticated Traveler, and The Gettysburg Review.
Hellenga was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in Milwaukee and Three Oaks, Michigan. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Michigan and his graduate work at the Queen’s University of Belfast, the University of North Carolina, and Princeton University. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton and began teaching English literature at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1968. In 1973–74 he was co-director of the ACM Seminar in the Humanities at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and in 1982–83 he directed the ACM Florence programs in Florence, Italy. He also worked and studied in Bologna, Verona, and Rome. He was distinguished writer in residence and professor emeritus at Knox College. Hellenga was married and had three daughters.
Hellenga received awards for his fiction from the Illinois Arts Council and from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sixteen Pleasures received The Society of Midland Authors Award for Fiction published in 1994. The Fall of a Sparrow was included in the Los Angeles Times list of the "Best Fiction of 1998" and the Publishers Weekly list of the "Best 98 Books." Snakewoman of Little Egypt, was included in The Washington Post's list of "The Best Novels of 2010" and Kirkus Reviews' list of "2010 Best Fiction: The Top 25." The audio version of Snakewoman was a 2011 Audie Award Winner for Literary Fiction. The Confessions of Frances Godwin received The Society of Midland Authors' Award for fiction published in 2014.
Hellenga died of neuroendocrine cancer on July 18, 2020, at his home in Galesburg, Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 11, 2013
I got a lot of satisfaction out of this character study of man who was disappointed in love as a youth and finds a calling in blues music as a method to transmute that experience into a fruitful path in adulthood. There is no dramatic plot to stir the action, just a quiet heroism in a personal quest to find a balance in his life.
Martin feels blessed in growing up in rural northern Michigan in the late 50s. He reaps a balance of benefits from his loving parents, a mother who is a liberal, bookish French teacher in his high school, and a down-to-earth father who manages an orchard. He loves learning all about orchard work from Cap, his father’s black foreman of the operation. He comes to love the country blues music played by the migrant workers. One of the talented players stirred his soul:
Chesterfield’s music was like a painful longing, but it was a longing that was better than having something. It didn’t make sense.
And at the same time as that discovery, he finds he loves Cap’s daughter, Cory, whom he has grown up with. To hell with racist society, life is full of sweet dreams:
She was my Guenevere, my Maid Marion, my dark-skinned Jane of the Jungle, with untameable hair and hands so quick she could reach down and catch a mouse scampering across the floor of the packing shed.
Now this part sounds like a spoiler, but it is in the publisher’s blurb and is a foundation for the story: Cory gets pregnant, and both sets of parents conspire to end their relationship. Martin’s true courage comes from his struggle against this fate, which I won’t spoil. To be true to himself, he has to leave Eden. He satisfies neither his mother’s wish for a college and a scholarly career, nor his father’s dream that he take over the orchard. Eventually, he ends up in Chicago and, just about the time he gives up on finding a way back to Cory, he buys a Gibson guitar and finds his “calling” at playing the blues. Cory and the blues are like the two lines of a railroad track for him:
I seemed to be caught up in two different stories, but sometimes I thought one was a translation of the other, and sometimes I thought they were both translations of still another story that was too old for anyone to remember.
For me, Hellenga’s books excel at elucidating that personal esthetic in the yin-yang of pleasure and pain in life, as captured in this passage:
…when I hear that old song “Corinna, Corinna”, I’m filled with a longing for Cory; and when I think of Cory, I’m filled with longing for that old song, even though I can play it in three different versions, even though I’ve held her in my arms and kissed her. “Corinna, Corinna, where you been so long; Corinna, Corinna, where you been so long; Ain’t had no lovin’ since you been gone.”
This book is far from tragedy, and far from sentimental fluff:
But if you stop struggling, you’ll discover that the music will hold you up, the way the ocean holds up a ship; you’ll feel the ocean beneath you, and the power of music will carry you along like a strong wind in your sail; transforming loss into longing, longing to beauty, and beauty into joy. ...
“Corinna, Corinna, where’s you stay last night; Corinna, Corinna, where’s you stay last night; come home this morning, sun shinin’ bright.”
On the surface, the three books I’ve read by Hellenga are very different from each other. Yet I can feel the common elements in them, and I was pleasantly surprised to have the author put two of them into words in an interview added at end of book.
The importance of story is key to all three novels, Margot [in “The Sixteen Pleasures”] realizes that without stories, we don’t know who we are. Woody [in “The Fall of the Sparrow”] believes that what we find at the core of all religions are stories. Martin and Corinna define themselves by their stories. which are, in a sense, two different versions of the same story.
…
The largest, most important theme is transcendence vs. immanence. I can’t get away from it. All my characters are torn between the desire to affirm that this world is enough and the sense that there’s some spiritual realm that calls us away from this world.
The book is far from perfect. Some of the writing and metaphors feel clumsy and fall flat. While Hellenga does well not to jerk the reader’s emotions around, Martin can come off as a little too confident and wise for a first person account. Still, I got some of the same satisfaction and quiet wellspring of feeling from the restrained perspective of the lead characters in Coplin’s “The Orchardist” and Ford’s “Canada”.
Martin feels blessed in growing up in rural northern Michigan in the late 50s. He reaps a balance of benefits from his loving parents, a mother who is a liberal, bookish French teacher in his high school, and a down-to-earth father who manages an orchard. He loves learning all about orchard work from Cap, his father’s black foreman of the operation. He comes to love the country blues music played by the migrant workers. One of the talented players stirred his soul:
Chesterfield’s music was like a painful longing, but it was a longing that was better than having something. It didn’t make sense.
And at the same time as that discovery, he finds he loves Cap’s daughter, Cory, whom he has grown up with. To hell with racist society, life is full of sweet dreams:
She was my Guenevere, my Maid Marion, my dark-skinned Jane of the Jungle, with untameable hair and hands so quick she could reach down and catch a mouse scampering across the floor of the packing shed.
Now this part sounds like a spoiler, but it is in the publisher’s blurb and is a foundation for the story: Cory gets pregnant, and both sets of parents conspire to end their relationship. Martin’s true courage comes from his struggle against this fate, which I won’t spoil. To be true to himself, he has to leave Eden. He satisfies neither his mother’s wish for a college and a scholarly career, nor his father’s dream that he take over the orchard. Eventually, he ends up in Chicago and, just about the time he gives up on finding a way back to Cory, he buys a Gibson guitar and finds his “calling” at playing the blues. Cory and the blues are like the two lines of a railroad track for him:
I seemed to be caught up in two different stories, but sometimes I thought one was a translation of the other, and sometimes I thought they were both translations of still another story that was too old for anyone to remember.
For me, Hellenga’s books excel at elucidating that personal esthetic in the yin-yang of pleasure and pain in life, as captured in this passage:
…when I hear that old song “Corinna, Corinna”, I’m filled with a longing for Cory; and when I think of Cory, I’m filled with longing for that old song, even though I can play it in three different versions, even though I’ve held her in my arms and kissed her. “Corinna, Corinna, where you been so long; Corinna, Corinna, where you been so long; Ain’t had no lovin’ since you been gone.”
This book is far from tragedy, and far from sentimental fluff:
But if you stop struggling, you’ll discover that the music will hold you up, the way the ocean holds up a ship; you’ll feel the ocean beneath you, and the power of music will carry you along like a strong wind in your sail; transforming loss into longing, longing to beauty, and beauty into joy. ...
“Corinna, Corinna, where’s you stay last night; Corinna, Corinna, where’s you stay last night; come home this morning, sun shinin’ bright.”
On the surface, the three books I’ve read by Hellenga are very different from each other. Yet I can feel the common elements in them, and I was pleasantly surprised to have the author put two of them into words in an interview added at end of book.
The importance of story is key to all three novels, Margot [in “The Sixteen Pleasures”] realizes that without stories, we don’t know who we are. Woody [in “The Fall of the Sparrow”] believes that what we find at the core of all religions are stories. Martin and Corinna define themselves by their stories. which are, in a sense, two different versions of the same story.
…
The largest, most important theme is transcendence vs. immanence. I can’t get away from it. All my characters are torn between the desire to affirm that this world is enough and the sense that there’s some spiritual realm that calls us away from this world.
The book is far from perfect. Some of the writing and metaphors feel clumsy and fall flat. While Hellenga does well not to jerk the reader’s emotions around, Martin can come off as a little too confident and wise for a first person account. Still, I got some of the same satisfaction and quiet wellspring of feeling from the restrained perspective of the lead characters in Coplin’s “The Orchardist” and Ford’s “Canada”.
October 26, 2012
Finally done! If I weren't that interested in how the story ends, I would have put it down very soon after starting it. I saw some reviews about it here and I am puzzled a little because it seems that I am either stupid or I just plain don't understand the story and how it should be written. Because everyone - well, almost everyone - says how good this book is and how interesting and how well written and all, and I barely made it through it! I mean, the story itself could be very interesting, but the way he writes is just so, so, soooo boring! Maybe I missed the point or I don't know what. For example, why in the world is he so terribly obsessed with streets and their names and on which street exactly he walks to go from point A to point B - it drove me crazy! And all in all - blues lessons? I don't know, as a musician, and as a blues lover, I didn't feel any of it in Hellenga's writing. I am sorry, but that's the way it was for me. I can't wait to start reading some other book now. :)
September 2, 2012
During the innocent time of 1954, in rural Michigan, Martin Dijksterhuis a high school senior falls in love with his neighbor, Cory Williams who is an African American. With the optimism of youth Martin believes in dreams and that love will overcome. This is the stage set by Robert Hellenga in his third novel Blues Lessons.
Martin and Cory are constant companions since childhood. Martin's family owns the orchard where Cory's father is employed as a foreman. One evening Cory and Martin sneak through the orchard to listen to the migrant workers playing the blues. Martin uses the money he has saved from the Summer of working the orchards to purchase the beat up old national steel from the guitar player. He thinks has found his calling and the love of his life.
Hellenga nicely captures the hope and delicacy which exists in first love. Martin's feelings for Cory are beautiful and fragile. Love is never as simple as we hope when we are teenagers. Hellenga's story shows how family relationships can be strained to the breaking point when we try to choose other's path.
For those who have read Hellenga's previous book The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons may be a bit of a disappointment. The story doesn't move at quite the same pace nor does it have the angst that was so apparent in The Fall of a Sparrow. While it doesn't have the Harrowing emotions of his previous book it does examine the impact which family members have on each other and the life choices they make and the reasons behind choosing vocations.
As a lover of the blues I appreciate the story of Martin's love of the blues and his developing career as a blues artist. It examines the period in 1960's when blues was "rediscovered" and many of the original delta blues artists were "found."
For those who appreciate stories about family relationships, I recommend this book.
Martin and Cory are constant companions since childhood. Martin's family owns the orchard where Cory's father is employed as a foreman. One evening Cory and Martin sneak through the orchard to listen to the migrant workers playing the blues. Martin uses the money he has saved from the Summer of working the orchards to purchase the beat up old national steel from the guitar player. He thinks has found his calling and the love of his life.
Hellenga nicely captures the hope and delicacy which exists in first love. Martin's feelings for Cory are beautiful and fragile. Love is never as simple as we hope when we are teenagers. Hellenga's story shows how family relationships can be strained to the breaking point when we try to choose other's path.
For those who have read Hellenga's previous book The Fall of a Sparrow, Blues Lessons may be a bit of a disappointment. The story doesn't move at quite the same pace nor does it have the angst that was so apparent in The Fall of a Sparrow. While it doesn't have the Harrowing emotions of his previous book it does examine the impact which family members have on each other and the life choices they make and the reasons behind choosing vocations.
As a lover of the blues I appreciate the story of Martin's love of the blues and his developing career as a blues artist. It examines the period in 1960's when blues was "rediscovered" and many of the original delta blues artists were "found."
For those who appreciate stories about family relationships, I recommend this book.
March 27, 2008
Hellenga is my all time favorite writer! Read this or the Fall of a Sparrow!
July 1, 2008
Pretty good book. I enjoyed it. I am not a huge blues fan, so I didn't really appreciate that part of it as much as other people might, but the story kept me interested.
August 17, 2021
Fell flat for me. The first third had huge pacing issues, with some chapters providing a year passing during a paragraph and then the next several pages being about one day. The subject matter groped for Significance and Relevance but ended up seeming trite. Even the book-club questions at the end disappointed me. They poked me in the eye until I admitted that there was Symbolism Throughout.
I did like the details of down-home blues, though. And the pro-life message of the profound joy and love you can provide to and receive from a surprise baby (even one of a surprising color!) was solid. "All because of me?" Yes.
I did like the details of down-home blues, though. And the pro-life message of the profound joy and love you can provide to and receive from a surprise baby (even one of a surprising color!) was solid. "All because of me?" Yes.
August 13, 2019
Disappointing
There are too many stories in Robert Hellenga's novel, Blues Lesson. It starts out fine but at some point, when he becomes a bluesman, it loses focus. His relationship to his daughter is enough for a whole volume. Too much nostalgia too. Why all these lists of names or things. I loved his other novels, but on this one gave up at page 300.
There are too many stories in Robert Hellenga's novel, Blues Lesson. It starts out fine but at some point, when he becomes a bluesman, it loses focus. His relationship to his daughter is enough for a whole volume. Too much nostalgia too. Why all these lists of names or things. I loved his other novels, but on this one gave up at page 300.
January 28, 2020
This book was a very slow start for me. I was not as interested in the young characters as I was in the older version of them. This being my second Hellenga book, he definitely has a certain style - writing about a lifetime really. Still a great book.
June 11, 2021
This would have been a 5 star book if it wasn’t for some gratuitous sex randomly sprinkled through the narrative.
February 19, 2023
This is a wonderful book! It’s a great novel!!
February 20, 2023
Have mixed feelings about this book. I have read two others by Hellenga and enjoyed them but struggled that the protagonist was so unaware of racial prejudice of the time the novel was set.
June 30, 2025
Found buried in a stack of books by my bed. Poignant story of a Michigan farm boy's love of the blues and the consequences of youthful love.
November 1, 2020
This was an incredibly well-written book, examining how decisions or thoughts made in your teens can impact the rest of your life. The blues meander there way through the book, and the author does a really good job of incorporating song lyrics withe the trajectory of the book. I think it's rare for that to be done effectively. It was hard for me to hear the songs, though, or to even hear blues as I was reading the book.
I liked watching Robert grow and change from a teen to an adult, and especially liked the self-examination that he brought the reader into. I like watching him try to navigate his relationships, the successes and failures, and really liked him growing into his fatherhood.
All in all, a solid book and would read more by this author.
I liked watching Robert grow and change from a teen to an adult, and especially liked the self-examination that he brought the reader into. I like watching him try to navigate his relationships, the successes and failures, and really liked him growing into his fatherhood.
All in all, a solid book and would read more by this author.
July 23, 2010
Growing up in small town Michigan, Martin Dijksterhuis thought he knew everything about what he was going to do with life - run the family business, apple orchards, for his father. His mom had other plans for him - to attend the University of Chicago, her alma mater, and really make something of himself; something that she felt she never did, despite all the opportunities given to her. Everything changed his junior year though when he fell in love. His first love was Corinna Williams, the "Negro" daughter of his father's foreman. His second love, the blues music played by the migrant workers who followed the apples north from Georgia every year.
With the money he had saved up for college, he bought himself a guitar - not just a guitar though, the guitar, the one that first weaved the blues into his heartstrings. It was an ugly thing, but it was good enough for him and the blues. He tried to take Corinna to homecoming, but even his liberal mother was dead-set against it. So instead of joining their classmates, they climbed the water tower and then made love. Martin, had no idea what kind of changes this single moment would set into action. A few months later, Cory was gone, as was Martin's faith in his parents and the world. What follows, is his journey as he followed the call of the blues, tried to find happiness, and at last acceptance for what was, is, and will be.
This is my second Hellenga novel, and while it didn't grab me in the same way Philosophy Made Simple did, it was a well-rendered novel. Set against the backdrop of an explosive time in American history, Hellenga managed to tell a nice story about finding one's self and learning to accept life despite choices that are made, whether good or bad. Perhaps it's because my experiences are so different than those described in the novel, but I just wasn't drawn into the story and the characters lives as much I would have liked. This is not the fault of the author though. For me personally, despite having grown up in a town even smaller than Appleton, I couldn't relate to the characters experiences. I believe it to be more due to the nature of the time period in which the novel was set. I'm not sure that anyone who didn't grown up with the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement can truly get what it was about - nor could an author easily make it come alive. That said, I would still recommend this novel, especially to people who grew up in that tumultuous era.
With the money he had saved up for college, he bought himself a guitar - not just a guitar though, the guitar, the one that first weaved the blues into his heartstrings. It was an ugly thing, but it was good enough for him and the blues. He tried to take Corinna to homecoming, but even his liberal mother was dead-set against it. So instead of joining their classmates, they climbed the water tower and then made love. Martin, had no idea what kind of changes this single moment would set into action. A few months later, Cory was gone, as was Martin's faith in his parents and the world. What follows, is his journey as he followed the call of the blues, tried to find happiness, and at last acceptance for what was, is, and will be.
This is my second Hellenga novel, and while it didn't grab me in the same way Philosophy Made Simple did, it was a well-rendered novel. Set against the backdrop of an explosive time in American history, Hellenga managed to tell a nice story about finding one's self and learning to accept life despite choices that are made, whether good or bad. Perhaps it's because my experiences are so different than those described in the novel, but I just wasn't drawn into the story and the characters lives as much I would have liked. This is not the fault of the author though. For me personally, despite having grown up in a town even smaller than Appleton, I couldn't relate to the characters experiences. I believe it to be more due to the nature of the time period in which the novel was set. I'm not sure that anyone who didn't grown up with the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement can truly get what it was about - nor could an author easily make it come alive. That said, I would still recommend this novel, especially to people who grew up in that tumultuous era.
April 3, 2012
This is a big book about big issues, beautifully written, sensitively handled. It's about race relations and civil rights from the 1950s through the 1970s. It's about searching for one's place in the world, finding your true vocation. But most of all it's about the power of love. Protagonist Martin Dijksterhuis changes and grows remarkably from age 17 to 37, and he never stops trying to figure out what God - or perhaps fate - intended for him. At first he thought it was all about a girl named Corrina and taking over the family orchard business in southwest Michigan. Then he discovers the blues and his life keeps changing. He learns some hard truths - about his parents, about the world. He loses the girl he loves, then finds her again, years later. But by then too many things have changed. His is a story filled with heartbreak and hard-won wisdom. It's about the way life works out, whether you wanted it that way or not.
Chicago in the mid-20th century is presented from both sides of the tracks, and the music of the era and the Chicago blues scene in particular is lovingly rendered. Robert Hellenga is an artist and BLUES LESSONS is all about black and white, but painted lovingly in every hue with strokes both broad and fine. I read his first novel, THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES, years ago and remember how much I enjoyed it. It's great to rediscover a writer like this. Now I must seek out his other books and read them. I hope Hellenga finds a wide and appreciative audience. He deserves it.
Chicago in the mid-20th century is presented from both sides of the tracks, and the music of the era and the Chicago blues scene in particular is lovingly rendered. Robert Hellenga is an artist and BLUES LESSONS is all about black and white, but painted lovingly in every hue with strokes both broad and fine. I read his first novel, THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES, years ago and remember how much I enjoyed it. It's great to rediscover a writer like this. Now I must seek out his other books and read them. I hope Hellenga finds a wide and appreciative audience. He deserves it.
March 9, 2011
Martin Dijksterhuis (dike-stir-hoice, rymes with choice) is a teenage boy in Michigan during the '50s who has to deal with the problematic legacy of his first love. Martin Dijksterhuis is forced to grow up in a hurry when his attraction for an African-American girl, Cory, leads to certain developments and potential conflicts with his parents. The books follow Martin from his teenage years through his early 30s and the changes in his life and the life of his family, Cory, and her family.
I really liked the first two novels by Hellenga that I read and this one is even better! Chicago plays an important part in the book, so that was fun to read. Hellenga also peppers interesting facts about blues history and musicians throughout. The characters seem true, and their difficulties are easy to identify with. Hellenga's writing is not too elaborate or flowery, but something about it seems to set it above most modern American authors. The fact that Hellenga is not a household name in America is dumbfounding to me. I'm glad he has three other novels that I have yet to read, but I'm sad that I must wait at least another year before reading one because I don't want to exhaust the supply. 330 pages.
I really liked the first two novels by Hellenga that I read and this one is even better! Chicago plays an important part in the book, so that was fun to read. Hellenga also peppers interesting facts about blues history and musicians throughout. The characters seem true, and their difficulties are easy to identify with. Hellenga's writing is not too elaborate or flowery, but something about it seems to set it above most modern American authors. The fact that Hellenga is not a household name in America is dumbfounding to me. I'm glad he has three other novels that I have yet to read, but I'm sad that I must wait at least another year before reading one because I don't want to exhaust the supply. 330 pages.
August 11, 2009
I like this one almost as much as Hellenga's two previous books, The Sixteen Pleasures and Fall of the Sparrow. In this one the son of a Dutch truck farmer in southwestern Michigan falls in love with the African American daughter of the foreman on the farm & she gets pregnant. Both sets of parents prevent them from staying together, & the guy finds the mother only 8 years later & tries to become involved in her life. It has some of the same themes as Half a Heart, but relates them in a much more complex, subtle way.
July 27, 2009
The story of a young man's journey to find himself. It is set in Michigan in the 1950's where, during his junior year in high school, he discovers his two loves - playing the blues, and the black daughter of his father's foreman. Many twists and turns, some predictable, some not.
January 25, 2010
Good read. A pregancy teenagers results from an event at the top of the town's watertower. The white boy's father pays the black girls family to "disappear." When the boy finds out he leaves his family and follow his blues calling.
April 15, 2012
This is a quiet novel, a lot like real life. The character stumbles through life, but gradually manages to figure out what is most important to him and how to arrange his life to maximize those things. Beautifully written, very subtle.
June 12, 2013
another of Hellenga's interesting psychological studies.
April 25, 2011
Not as good as I had hoped based on the Snakewoman book. But Hellenga does have a gift for dialogue.
April 20, 2013
The beautiful, almost overly-philosophical novel I've come to expect from Hellenga. Be prepared to debate life.
March 11, 2014
Ok...
Read
November 19, 2014DNF - This was the wrong book at the wrong time. I will pass it on at Paperbackswap.com
March 22, 2016
Style and feel much like his book, The Sixteen Pleasures. His characters and the situations they find themselves in feel very authentic.
Read
June 13, 2016I read more than half of this book and although I liked the beginning and probably would have liked the end, the middle bored me and I went on to a different book.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews