Finding Caruso

by Kim Barnes

When an alcohol-related accident claims the lives of their parents, Lee and Buddy sell of their Oklahoma farm and move to northern Idaho, where Lee finds a job playing country music and Buddy falls in love with a woman twice his age. A first novel. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Coming Of Age, Drama

First published March 28, 2011

About the author

I was born in Lewiston, Idaho, in 1958, and one week later, I returned with my mother to our small line-shack on Orofino Creek, where my father worked as a gyppo logger. The majority of my childhood was spent with my younger brother, Greg, in the isolated settlements and cedar camps along the North Fork of Idaho’s Clearwater River. I was the first member of my family to attend college. I hold a BA in English from Lewis-Clark State College, an MA in English from Washington State University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Montana. In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country, my first memoir, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, received a PEN/Jerard Fund Award, and was awarded a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award. My second memoir, Hungry for the World, was a Borders Books New Voices Selection. I am the author of three novels: Finding Caruso; A Country Called Home, winner of the 2009 PEN Center USA Literary Award in Fiction and named a Best Book of 2008 by The Washington Post, Kansas City Star, and The Oregonian (Northwest); and In the Kingdom of Men, a story set in 1960s Saudi Arabia, listed among the Best Books of 2012 by San Francisco Chronicle and The Seattle Times.

I have co-edited two anthologies: Circle of Women: An Anthology of Contemporary Western Women Writers (with Mary Clearman Blew), and Kiss Tomorrow Hello: Notes from the Midlife Underground by Twenty-Five Women Over Forty (with Claire Davis). My essays, poems, and stories have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including The New York Times, WSJ online, The Georgia Review, Shenandoah, Good Housekeeping, Oprah Magazine, MORE Magazine, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. I am a former Idaho-Writer-in-Residence and teach in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Idaho. I have three grown children, one dog, one cat, and live with my singular husband, the poet Robert Wrigley, on Moscow Mountain.

Reviews

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

First I want to say that the writing itself was beautiful. Barnes has a way of turning a phrase that is breathtaking at times. The descriptions were amazing. I can't say enough about that aspect of the book.

But the rest of it was meh. There was a lot of violence and graphic depictions of animal abuse that I had to skip over because it turned my stomach. Lee and Buddy got into several fistfights with one another, then also got into fistfights with other characters.

There was also the angle of Irene. She was an older woman with a terrible past and she toyed with Buddy, both sexually and emotionally. She also toyed with Lee, but I think he kind of saw through her. She had a lot of emotional baggage that is strung along until the end revelations.

I couldn't get into any of the characters. At first I liked Buddy as the narrator, but then he got a bit on my nerves because of his relationship (or whatever it was) with Irene. I didn't like Irene, either. She was (I think) supposed to be the boo-hoo character (the one you feel sorry for). But I didn't feel sorry for her because she was older and knew better. I often felt like she screwed with Buddy in order to just have something to do. Lee was slightly interesting, but he wasn't well drawn out and we saw him only through Buddy's eyes. There were also a LOT of other characters, including some that popped up and disappeared rather rapidly. Others had no introduction, they were suddenly just there and I had to go back in some parts to try to figure out where they showed up.

The plot also couldn't decide how to go. It was first a coming of age story, then a Mrs. Robinson story, then a potential murder story, then an animal story (Buddy gets the horse Caruso), then a "small town singer hits it big" story, then a "injustices done to the Native Americans" story, then a "the town is literally on fire" story...and on and on. Most of the threads are tied up at the end, but for such a short book, it really had too much plot packed into it.

So while the writing itself was lovely, the overall story and characters were not that great.

[Nann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered Kim Barnes a couple of years ago and really like her descriptive prose.
After their parents die in a car wreck Buddy Hope and his older brother leave their hardscrabble Oklahoma farm and eventually end up in a small city in Idaho. They live behind a bar/dance hall where Lee sings with the house band. 17-year-old Buddy is aimless but when Irene arrives in town he is smitten. That summer packs it all in — tragedy, betrayal, violence, death. “Maybe it is true that this was how we learned, one would at a time, until we bore an armor of scars, tough enough to fend off the world.” (P. 180). “If not for Irene I might never have…stepped out into that larger world. I might never have known what grace resides in those moments of decision, when we must embrace the awful freedom granted to us,…offer the simplest, most complex of answers—no. I hear it still.” (P. 299).

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two brothers growing up in rural Oklahoma in the 50's and they lose both parents in an auto accident. They decide to leave and try to find work as a band playing in highway inns and night clubs across the country. They end up in Idaho where they find work in a small night club called the Stables. They youngest boy who is 16 becomes infatuated with an older woman who comes in one night but his older brother tells him she is nothing but trouble. This is their story and his coming of age. A beautiful description of the land and country and old ways of the people there. I enjoyed the book and thought it was one of the author's best.

[Maggie Koger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. I know the territory (Idaho), I have some experience in small town bars, and I know teenagers (30 years teaching 7-12 grades) and this book gives more than enough truth to satisfy an exacting reader on all three points. Inaddition, the natural world and the setting is beautifully wrought. Can't say enough.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I quit halfway. Good writing, but I never believed in any of the characters, and the animal cruelty turned my stomach. Oklahoma/Idaho comparisons, lots of alcohol and unhappiness. Meh.

[Bradley Brill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+ star rating; just shy of really good.

[Stephanie Moyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn’t a bad book, but wasn’t my favorite either. There were some twists I wasn’t expecting but the story line seemed to draw on for me.

[Cathy Finke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to get started but interesting “western”.

[Yvonne O'Connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buddy and Lee Hope are brothers growing-up in Oklahoma. Their drunk of a father is killed, along with their mother, in a car accident and they leave for Idaho to find work in the logging camps (1957). Lee, the older, is a singer/musician and finds work in a roadhouse. Buddy is 17 and is taken with Irene Sullivan, a woman in her early 30's who suddenly comes to town. They begin an odd affair, much to the dismay of Lee, who is used to women falling at his feet. When a female band member is found dead, a local Indian is charged, but is innocent. Irene ends-up breaking Buddy's heart when he finds them in bed, but she leaves town right after he finds-out the truth of that scenario. Lee leaves for an offer in CA, but Buddy stays, eventually joining the Army and coming back to marry and raise a family. But, he never forgets Irene, even though he never sees her again.

This book was SO slow-moving and devoid of any real plot that it took me forever to finish. Irene was a mess, but you never got deep enough into her past and "secrets" to care about her or want her to be with Buddy. Lee was equally one-dimensional, alternating between angry/cocky 24 year old and caring/protective brother. The whole story about his relationship with the dead girl was also completely glossed-over. The addition of Wolfchild (the Indian) to the story was just weird. So many pages talking about him being naked, taking a steam, or mumbling nonsense about some weird dream. At least Buddy was able to get away from the crazy and make a good life for himself. The title also made me wonder. Caruso was a horse Buddy bartered with a widow to get. Was this a metaphor for finding himself? And why was he so horrible to the horse???

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't recall how I acquired this book, but it was a pleasant discovery on my shelf in my hunt to start a new one. I found the writing to be almost poetic at times - a real treat after having just finished a chick-lit one! Even though the material is on the dark side, which is not usually my favorite, I found myself liking many of the characters. Themes of various kinds of love, loyalty, responsibility, and friendship held my interest while trying to predict what decisions each person would make. I will certainly try to read another book by this author.

[Nina Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A welcome re-read from some years back... It had been calling to me & thought I'd lost it! Discovered it last week on my bookshelf still! YAY! Northwest author, Kim Barnes, has produced a trans-generational tale with a sweet, true heart about growing up strong, with not much help in hard times but in community that is finding itself. It is so like my experience of MT in the 70's. It is real & true & good. How to find family when your own has failed you. A welcome old friend & a page-turner. Hooray for Kim Barnes: http://kimbarnes.com/

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first began reading this book I felt the author was trying to hard to have the sentences turned perfectly. Also, I felt that it wasn't that original. However, as I read on I began to enjoy it more and it definitely had elements that diverged from what I thought would be the usual formula of younger man/older woman. Definitely an enjoyable read.

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Embarrassing. It's a novel-length "The Thunder Rolls." No redeeming aspects, not even the local Lewiston, ID color.
The title refers to the 35 y.o. Irene's taste for the finer things vs. 16 y.o. narrator's exposure at the hands of his older brother to country music, boxing, and beer. Set in the 1930s. Really, really bad.

[Joneetha Pralou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing. Kim's writing tends to leave me feeling empty, that I've lost part of myself along the way, and they always seem to end on a sad note. That said, it was an interesting story line that pulls you in.

[Paula Hagar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. The story is sweet, moving, poignant, terribly bittersweet, and the writing moved me to tears at times.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written - this is a favorite that I keep coming back to.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liked the swimming in the Clearwater, but the drunken violence was a bit unsetteling no matter how true.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in October 2003 and just finished it again today. I still give it five stars.

[Alyson Hagy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and realized. Bittersweet, yes. But in all the ways I admire. Barnes is a dazzling rare bird--great at fiction and memoir. Brava.

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Relationship between two brothers. Some interesting moments, not very good overall.

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, but I never think the sexual bond between a much younger man and a woman that's like 15 years older is or should be stronger than that between brothers.

[Emm Bee · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like the book very much, but I loved the cover(way to go, Mr. Mason! nice photo!)

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great prose,enjoyed this read.