Wheatyard

by Peter Anderson

Debut novel from Peter Anderson. A long, scorching Illinois summer and a passion for literature are the backdrop for an unlikely friendship between an eccentric writer and a business school graduate, two extremely different personalities who only slowly realize they have more in common than they're willing to admit.

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190 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Peter Anderson's debut novella, Wheatyard, was published by Kuboa Press in April 2013. His short stories have appeared in many fine venues, including Storyglossia, THE2NDHAND, RAGAD, Midwestern Gothic and the collections On the Clock: Contemporary Short Stories of Work (Bottom Dog Press, 2010) and Daddy Cool: An Anthology of Writing by Fathers For & About Kids (Artistically Declined Press, 2013). A financial professional by trade, he writes fiction to ease the crushing monotony of corporate life. He lives in Joliet, Illinois, with his lovely wife Julie, charming daughter Madeleine and amiable felines Zelda and Lucky.

Reviews

[Ben]

Read it. And blurbed it. Yo.

"For the people who tell us books are dying, I would suggest they grab a cold beer, find a porch, and read Wheatyard, so they can remind themselves how much words can still dance on the printed page, and how much feeling, suppressed and otherwise, can be found in this debut novel’s vibrant passages."

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote this book, so I'm definitely biased with my rating. But I'm also only giving it four stars because I know that while it's a good book, it's not the absolute best I can do. Still, I hope you read it, and enjoy it.

[Giano Cromley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story takes place in that liminal space between the end of your formal education and the beginning of what will become your career. It's a fraught time in a person's life, when the training wheels of childhood are falling away and everyone just expects you to be able to balance the demands of adulthood. The narrator of this story finds himself in just such a situation -- confused, bewildered, afraid -- but he's fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of a strange man, Elmer Glaciers Wheatyard, who just might help him figure things out.

[Jason Fisk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wheatyard is an engaging story about a man in his mid/late 20s and his need to solve the mystery that is Wheatyard, an eccentric writer who he has befriended. Anderson creates a definite sense of place and time through his descriptions of Central Illinois. There is also a spell binding buzzing that Anderson has generated through this novella; a hum that continually pulls you back to the book. I enjoyed reading this novella very much.

[Jacqueline Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this little book! Its a fun, engaging & interesting read that keeps you wanting more. The characters stick with you long after you finish -

[Joseph Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHEATYARD is an excellent well paced novel reminiscent of JOE GOULD'S SECRET by Joseph Mitchell and it's a kindred spirt, though gentler, to WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson. It features an engaging narrator who becomes obsessed with a local eccentric writer who frequents the cafes and dives on the fringes of the University of Illinois. The story takes place in the wake of the recession brought on by the stock market crash in the 1980s and it captures that in-between time when a business student graduates from college and attempts with little success to translate his college degree into a job in the financial industry. The unnamed narrator finds distraction from his impecunious state and soul-less search through the want ads when, after being handed a manuscript in a bookshop, he becomes obsessed with learning more about Wheatyard, who is the author of the curious manuscript, LONGING DISSOLUTE MIDNIGHT.

What makes this book so special is that the narrator does not judge the idiosyncratic Wheatyard, and even though Wheatyard's manuscript is unwieldy, uncompromising and inscrutable, the narrator nevertheless shows great respect to Wheatyard for having composed the manuscript in the first place. The descriptions of the subtle beauty to be found in Illinois' dreary and endless cornbelt; the excellent evocation of the outsider that haunts rural college campuses; and the rare and respectful rendering of a brief friendship formed between young men just before they set off into the world of adult-hood are just some of the pleasures to be discovered in this text. The prose is as spare as the Prairie state Anderson describes.

My only quibble with this book is at the publishing ethos that eschews back-cover descriptive copy and blurbs--these features add interest and pleasure to the reading experience--and the idea of publishing a book without these pleasurable readerly additives seems misguided.

Despite that comment, I highly recommend this wonderful book and I hope it finds a wide readership.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In reading Wheatyard, I couldn't help thinking about the movie HENRY FOOL, which is about a garbageman that befriends a crazed poet. In Wheatyard, we have a recently graduated business student befriending a crazed novelist. I'm not saying they're the same story at all, just that they have something connecting them, and that's the idea of the mad creative type remaining a source of intrigue, even for what some may call their complete opposites. Unlike Henry Fool, however, Wheatyard is a little softer around the edges and the story is less epic in scope and more epistolary. It's about two guys, really, and how one is determined to unravel the mystery of the other, while the other does his best to not unravel. Throughout a series of conversations you learn a little about Wheatyard, and perhaps more about the narrator, himself. And throughout, a picture is painted pretty flawlessly of a burnt-out Midwestern town knee-deep in summer. The detail in there is really nicely done. In the end, this is a story about inspiration, and about finding oneself and appreciating that. Whether it be that you're a broke-ass novelist writing never-to-be-published books about the time Donald Duck and JFK went fishing and invented the automobile, or you're a number-cruncher with an occasional need to put a few words on a page.

[Martin Strickler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, it was easy to love this wonderful little book, even for someone like me, living far, far away from this nicely drawn rural midwestern setting! Loved the characters, felt familiar with the kind of limbo the unnamed character was in, liked the surprising end. I admired the quiet and low-key storyline (no literary tricks, no violence) which was nevertheless very entertaining and sometimes very funny, too. And I admired the quietly, smoothly written prose. It was a book that just made me entirely happy. It somehow also rescued me out of a difficult situation in my life. For me, it is this year's little masterpiece.

No synopsis here. Go and read it yourself!

Martin, Zurich, Switzerland.

[Pam Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book! The characters jump off of the page and introduce themselves to you. You become another person sitting in the cafeteria or a patron in the bar as you observe these quirky characters each with their own history and baggage that endears them to you. The reader becomes invested as the bygone era and the present collide in the most delightful way. It is like looking at a postcard and making up the story or walking in a neighborhood you have never been before. You meet people and you want to know more or wish they would sit and stay a while.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book on October 29th, and two weeks later, I am still thinking about it.

The way I feel about this book: Frankly, it makes me wish there was associated merch! T shirts, bumper stickers, key rings, coffee mugs, etc. with the following phrases:

Who's your Wheatyard?

Have you read Longing Dissolute Midnight yet?

And for the record, I wish I could read Longing Dissolute Midnight.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this on Goodreads First Reads....it's definitely different from my usual reading style. I really had a hard time following this book...didn't really understand a lot of it,but strangely enough I did still enjoy it. Give it a go is all I can say...lol

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read and an interesting story- loved the Champaign references.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a quick read. If you are a writer it could be a fun read. Some good thoughts.