Heading West: A Novel

by Doris Betts

Nancy Finch, her kidnapper, and on-the-run hitchhiker Judge J. Jolley drive westward from South Carolina and--after plots, failed chances, and retreats along the way--arrive finally at the Grand Canyon and deliverance

Genres: Fiction

359 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Doris Betts (1932-2012), former Chancellor of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, wrote nine novels and three collections of short stories, including The Gentle Insurrection, The Sharp Teeth of Love, Souls Raised from the Dead, which won the Southern Book Award, and Beasts of the Southern Wild, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Betts taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 35 years. She was a Guggenheim Fellow and received a medal from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars just because it is not my favorite book.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this, but I gotta tell the truth. This book is a mess, very capably written by an important author who just passed away, and we have to honor that, but still, a mess. Here's the situation, a Misfit like character who has been running around the south committing crimes, kidnaps a small town librarian away from who sister and brother-in-law who have kindly taken her on a cheapskate camping trip. Unfortunately, the misfit guy is scary for about three pages and the author is hard put to explain why her librarian who may be a spinster, but is by no means a virgin, can't find a way to get away from him. Off they go, heading west, and for some reason there is no police chase, even though the sister and brother-in-law are left unhurt at the scene of the abduction. The author struggles to make this believable, even adds an extra hostage to the situation, but to no avail,there are stops at the Bandelier National Monument and finally at the Grand Canyon where the story runs completely out of gas with 150 more pages to go. Characters enter and leave for no better purpose than to extend the story, and the ones the author seems to like the most are the ones that seem most improbable to me. So why did I finish? Good question. Betts writes beautifully. Maybe that's enough.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A librarian is kidnapped and it changes her life...for the better.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because the author is a North Carolinian, like me, now. I realize she has many successful books, but I'm reluctant to try another because this one was so disjointed and the characters so unlikeable. I got half way through it before giving up, hoping something would pull the story together. The only books I've ever quit on before have been openly racist, misogynist, or clashing politically with my views, and I've even finished some of those when the writing is good.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read in the 1980s when I worked for a public library in SC, my main memory was Nancy’s harrowing trek through the Grand Canyon. This time I am more judgmental about the characters (unlikable), the pace (meandering), and plot (implausible). The writing itself is excellent and I enjoyed reading about the grandeur of the west juxtaposed against small-town NC.

Nancy: “The weak view strength as an unfair advantage you’ve taken and ought to pay for. There’s a graduated income tax on strength, justified by scripture. To whom much is given, much shall be required?” 294

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little disjointed but had some interesting elements. I would give it a 3 1/2 stars.

[Ellen F · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that I read and reread every year

[Jeanne Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to read a Doris Betts novel since she's often quoted as saying her native North Carolina is "the writingest state." Okay, so who is this writer's writer? I ended up liking this book so much that I read a second one (The Sharp Teeth of Love) which I liked less, but both of them left me even more intrigued by this author (1932-2012). I believe she's less known outside than in the Tar Heel state, although she was respected as a teacher, provided literary leadership, and won awards with her writing. Ah, her writing: loved her descriptions in this book of Grand Canyon, the breathtaking effect it has when you finally see, and especially when you experience its vast indifference, even after hearing about it and seeing pictures your entire life. The plot, however, has some troublesome elements in it. That a woman can be attracted to her abductor in a mysterious way--like a maiden swooning over a pirate in some bad romance--to the point where she doesn't try hard enough to escape is disconcerting. However, you can see how she is using her experience to her own ends. After her ordeal, she says of her kidnapper, "Dwight did exactly what he wanted and if he was never satisfied, he was never guilty, either. It was fascinating...Part of me is like him." "Who isn't?" a friend responds, and Nancy replies, "The degree...was news." At the same time, the frankness with which the author presents and deals with Nancy Finch's womanhood, her toughness and resourcefulness, humor, unfulfilling relationships with men, even bodily functions (which are usually smoothed over in fiction, as if women never got periods or had to pee), is progressive. So maybe the best way to think about the book afterward is metaphorically or symbolically, even though the plot is a harrowing adventure. And there are lots of funny bits, too--dark humor like Flannery O'Connor's. In fact, this reminded me of her short story "A Good Man is Hard to Find," (and to a lesser extent of "The Ransom of Red Chief"--maybe that would be a good subject for a seminar: the literature of kidnapping). I'm not partial to descriptions of characters' dreams--they seem to be too-easy ways to say something, like putting a musical soundtrack in a movie instead of having the couple actually interacting as they fall in love. But that's a minor part of this book. It's a complicated, sometimes painful and sometimes ridiculous story with distinctive quirks that for you might be either fascinating or unpalatable--or both at the same time. It actually could be an interesting film.

[Ashley Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Heading West, by Doris Betts, Nancy Finch, a loving and caring woman towards her friends and family, gets kidnapped on a trip by a man. The man is full of mystery, but he has a kind vibe. If I were to be put in Nancy's situation, I would be terrified. I would do anything and everything in my power to get away. For one, you don't know the person kidnapping you, they're just a complete stranger. You don't know anything about their past. You also don't know where you are going. Thats the scariest thought to me. Throughout reading this book I tried to put myself in Nancy's shoes. I give Nancy props. She stayed strong and showed no fear. She felt it, but she didn't want to show it. Kidnappers feed off their victims fear. The terror that trembles in their eyes gives them a sense of pleasure. I don't understand their decisions, but they are obviously messed up in the head. I know for a fact that if it were to happen to me and I lived from it, I would be scarred for life. I wouldn't know how to handle situations. I'd feel like I couldn't trust anyone. A kidnapper can be anyone. A friend, a neighbor, a family member, or most commonly a stranger.

In our society today, crime rates have grown. Crimes of all sorts. For example, drugs, murders, burgulary, and kidnappings. If tomorrow, you were a victim of a kidnapping, what would you do? How would you handle such a situation?

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't much like this at the start, and may have dropped it if I'd had something else with me on a long weekend. I didn't quite understand the main characters flaws at first, I just kind of thought she was a flake. She had ample opportunities to escape her kidnapper, yet just didn't. For a brief moment, I thought she was going to fall in love with her kidnapper. Thankfully, the author had many better ideas. I work in the legal field, and have, rarely, run into Defendant's like Dwight. Someone "without a conscience." Betts' description of him felt very true to me, he did things for no discernible reason, just because he wanted to. Yes, that's the way the worst criminals are, no forethought, no planning, no motive, just because. Nancy's growth as a person is pretty impressive as well. Especially since she doesn't wind up hating her needy family; she realizes her failure to live was as much her own fault as theirs -- she let them take advantage. The red-ribboned ending was a little bit too much, but I certainly much preferred see Nancy happy than dead, even if it felt unrealistic.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did anybody else get the impression that Doris Betts was just writing whatever popped into her head, not knowing where the story and characters would take her (and us)? I like Doris, I do. She writes well, sometimes her characters and description are so spot on...Nancy's family especially are wonderful (not wonderful people, they're horrible people, but they're great characters). But the story was so very random, especially the last half where everything kind of ties up nicely for Nancy...a little too nicely. The judge--he was the most random of all. Nancy's family at least made me laugh in their horrible-ness, but the judge just made me cringe.

So I'll definitely try another book by Doris Betts (b/c of her talent and I gotta support Chapel Hill, you know that), but if I find another character like the judge, I'm putting the book down and leaving her forever.

[Queen Helene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doris Betts writes exceedingly well. She conjures up the landscapes of America with originality; if I could have stopped reading long enough, I would have traced her journey on a map. Her verb choice is strong and imaginative - I had my pencil out from the first page, underlining how tourist cars "clot" at viewpoints and Nancy's mind "snaked downhill". Her characters are well-drawn and believable. The plot hints at thriller but it is not, more a road trip of painful, joyful, liberating discovery. Don't read the blurb, just enjoy the journey. The rhythm of the book does rise and fall, and the pace tails off after a certain highpoint of tension, but Betts rightly completes her protagonist's process of discovery and ties up loose ends to make a highly satisfying experience. I loved the wry female humour and chuckled to myself quite often. This is a writer I shall definitely return to.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book (which is the first novel by Doris Betts I've read), I found an interview where she says there are some things she would change about this book. I wonder what they are. I loved this story about Nancy Finch, a 34-year-old librarian who lives in a small town with her mother and brother, who are both dependent upon her for care. Nancy gets kidnapped while on vacation, and travels with her abductor all the way to the Grand Canyon. This sounds like it could be an awful premise, but it is so well done. Betts is an astounding writer, and the characters are complex and real. In a way, this is Nancy's chance to finally leave the stifling life she has led for so many years. This book raises some important questions regarding faith and relationships.

[Jamie]

The reverse of The Sharp Teeth of Love for me. There, what would normally turn me off kept me weirdly intrigued. Here, what I would normally love is something that doesn’t quite grab me. Woman who gets kidnapped but doesn’t escape because this is her escape, she wants to be along for the ride— yes! Want to read. But this is just a mess where I’m re-reading sentences because what’s even happening isn’t quite clear.

Sharp Teeth, for all of its hot mess of flaws, has definitely stuck with me, though. So maybe someday I’ll come back to this one.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction readers don’t want to read a travelogue that details every second of the character’s life. They want to read about the major turning points and experience them alongside the character. The difficulty is in knowing how to move the reader through time and place without jolting him or her from one setting to another. Heading West by Doris Betts is a brilliant example of how to structure a novel that has the capacity to read like a travel diary so that it moves through time without feeling slow or dragging.

[Charlie Quimby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the first half of the book (which tipped me to four instead of a three) but it lost its unpredictable menace and westward propulsion when Nancy Finch left the Grand Canyon. Betts is a terrific writer but couldn't seem to decide what she wanted this novel to be.

[Barbara Finkelstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I interviewed Doris Betts about Heading West for Bookpod.http://www.bookpod.org/journey-into-t...

There's a pdf available too.

I'd love to have your feedback.

[Millie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed her story and the writing also.