The Book of Famous Iowans: A Novel

by Douglas Bauer

Will Vaughn looks back in a painful retrospective at the controversy surrounding his mother's love affair and subsequent departure from the small town of New Holland, recounting the story of his parents' marriage, life on the farm, and their final break

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

I’ve written three novels, Dexterity, The Very Air, and The Book of Famous Iowans, each of them set in small towns, in Upstate New York, in Texas, and in Iowa. Their subjects and interests are as varied as their settings, although reviewers have pointed out that they all concern themselves in some fashion with mothers’ unpredictable presences and absences and the effect of that unreliability on their sons.

I’ve also written two non-fiction books, Prairie City, Iowa and The Stuff of Fiction. The first covers a year of reunion with the tiny farm village of the title, where I was raised and to which I returned at the age of 30 in order to try to understand the place where I grew up and, not incidentally, some things about myself as I reached that critical age. The second is a series of essays devoted to the craft of fiction writing. The essays cover the elements of character creation, dialogue, narrative strategies, how to start and end a story, and many more. There are exercises accompanying the essays.

In addition to the books I’ve written, I’ve edited two anthologies, Prime Times: Writers on their favorite television shows; and Death by Pad Thai and Other Unforgettable Meals. These anthologies feature contributions from some of the most prominent writers of our time, including Sue Miller, Andre Dubus III, Aimee Bender, Richard Russo, Claire Messud, Nick Hornby, the late and very great Barry Hannah, and on and on.

My stories and essays have appeared through the years in The Atlantic, Harper’s, Esquire, Tin House, The New York Times Magazine and Sunday Book Review, The Massachusetts Review, Agni, and other publications.

I’ve received grants in both fiction and non-fiction from The National Endowment for the Arts.

I’ve taught at several colleges and universities, including Harvard, Smith, The University of New Mexico, Rice, and since 2005 at Bennington College. My courses there include literature classes in the works of Charles Dickens, my favorite author in the language, as well as Twentieth Century writers such as Willa Cather, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this "slice of life", "coming of age" novel. The writing is excellent and the pace captures the time and locale.

[Sharon Falduto]

I really need to start looking at the publication dates of books before I check them out, and making sure they're not written by white males in the 1990s or 1980s, because I guess all the writers turned 40 around then and got all introspective and started writing these stories that I guess are supposed to resonate but are actually kinda boring.

Anyway, this is a novel, about a grown man remembering the time he was about 11 and his mom had an affair. There's nothing wrong with the books, really, it just wasn't particularly interesting, and despite the promises on the back of the book, I did not fall in love with the characters. I did enjoy the sort of minor character of the grandma, who kept a scrapbook of clippings about Iowans who had become famous, (hence the title of the book), but she didn't really move the story along.

Also, why does every book ever set in Iowa seem to take place on a farm and be filled with earnest, salt-of-the-earth types? I'm kind of tired of that. Let's have diverse people living in the cities once in a while!

[Water · Rating 4 out of 5]

The kernel of this story starts with Lewis, the narrator's father, who unexpectedly returns to his small town roots and ultimately stays. The drama unfolds through the recollections of Lewis' son, Will Vaughn, who in both memory and imagination endeavors to understand the heart, mind and actions of the main circle of characters in his father's life -- Leanne, Lewis, Bobby, Gram and the town itself -- each depicted in beautiful and vivid language.

Struggling to come to terms with his mother leaving him and the family, his father and their lives together subsist. Story follows the struggles of his father. The story is also a love story told by the son, in remembrance of who his father was, how his father loved - and never stopped loving - his mother, Leanne, even after she abandoned them. No matter how local or simple his father's roots were -- still, and more, how magnificent and far his father's love extended.

A story beautifully and elegantly told.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story goes back and forth through time between an older Will and a young Will. It centers around the months when Will's mother has an affair with a man who plays for the town baseball team. As the team's batboy, Will has viewed the ballplayer as a hero and has been is friend. He is in on the affair although most in the town are not until Will's father confronts the man on the baseball field before a large crowd. His mother flees and leaves Will behind. The rage that Will feels impacts his life. Now fifty years later Will is trying to make sense of it all. Nicely told, this is a story I enjoyed very much 20 years ago..

[AKT · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim: 2.9 rolling Peaks while listening to Perry Como sing Falling Stars.
Andy: 3.1 Peaks. Adultery, ok that's sort of cheating...but glue on the finger, that's punishable by death.
Rafi: 3.0 Peaks- try throwing a forkball with 1.75 fingers
Eric: 3.0 Peaks for the midnight ride of Lewis Vaughn
Chad: 3.1 Peaks of Arizona adoration amidst a crowd of Iowans

[Ogden Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an underrated book. I bought it at a used book store for $2. The characters of the mother and father are well drawn and believable. It is the breakup of a marriage as told from a child's perspective. Very good.

[Paul Heidebrecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

Splendidly written but depressing story of farm boy who watches his parents' marriage disintegrate and his mother run off never to return.

[Ingrid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written, relatively engaging. Wanted to like the adults more, but found them all sort of empty (except the grandmother, but she's a more of a secondary character).

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderfully written book about growing up in the midwest in a small town. The conflict within the family dynamics was handled with wisdom and a certain sweetness.

[Mistina Christner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It tackles a pretty sensitive subject about infidelity, but from the perspective of a child in the middle and how it can be a very powerless feeling when you don't fully understand what is going on at the time and you know that no matter what you say/do it will not change the situation. I thought it was interesting that the mystery was not tied up at the end about what happened with his mom when she left. I wish that would have been clarified, just because I will forever wonder what happend to her.

[Sally Atwell Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I am an Iowan I was drawn to this book by its title. However, I didn't find that the title fitted the story. The story is being told by the son who is now an adult. It about his father, mother, and his dad's mother who has her own apartment in the same house. The couple met and married while in Cheyenne. She sang in the saloons, and he had just been discharged from service. The story of their marriage and its coming apart is the heart of the book. Dad was brought back to Iowa because of the death of his father. He took over running the farm, while Mom lived in a fantasy of becoming a great singer. I am not going to say any more. However, it was the grandmother who was keeping a scrapbook of Iowans who she read about in the newspapers. She clipped them and pasted them into her scrapbook. End of that story.

[Marian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have made a good short story, but didn't really work as a novel.