Review: A Good Animal by Sara Maurer

Sault Ste. Marie, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, is probably best known for the Locks, which allow freighters to move from Lake Huron to Lake Superior and vice versa. And while much of its economy does revolve around shipping and the lakes (and the tourism the latter brings in), it is also surrounded by vast tracts of farmland, so a good portion of its population works the land rather than plying the waves. I have spent every summer of my entire life not too far from the Soo so finding a book set in a place I know so well was a nice surprise and I happily chose it for my summer book club. While we are all more attuned to life on the water than farm life, we all appreciated this debut novel and the way that it captured the heart and soul of the people of the area.

Everett is seventeen and heading into his senior year of high school. He wants to follow his father into sheep farming. It is just who he is, without question. Despite the toughness of the life, he is eager to earn enough money to start his own herd and make his own decisions about the sheep. His pay from summer haying and his winnings from the county fair should enable him to finally do so. His dreams are sent a bit sideways though, first when his sister discovers that her pet show sheep is destined to be slaughtered for meat unless Everett buys it for her, and second when a new girl, Mary, moves into town with her Coast Guard father. Mary has no intention of putting any roots down in Sault Ste. Marie and Everett can't imagine himself living anywhere else. Being teenagers, their being at odds about what life looks like after graduation will become a problem for future them as they live completely in the present.

Maurer has created a book that captures the UP and the people living in it beautifully. Yoopers really are their own unique people and this novel displays them sympathetically and honestly. It's a well wrought coming of age novel, a heartbreaking tale of first love. Hard life lessons, mistakes, and a very tough ending that comes slightly too quickly, although not unexpectedly, are realistic. There is no doubt that Everett, who narrates the novel, is firmly of the soil where he was born. He is sweet and empathetic but quiet and reserved, unused to sharing his feelings out loud. That he can't imagine Mary wanting something different from what he wants and that they don't discuss most of the decisions they do make, marks him very definitely as a teenage boy, still learning about life while trying to make very adult decisions. He sees his own parents' loving marriage and imagines he will have something similar with Mary, without truly understanding everything his parents had to overcome and do to make the contented life they have. Mary, who is only seen through Everett's eyes and so is more inscrutable, is biding her time until she can leave her apathetic father and this small Midwest town although she cannot help but be drawn to Everett, who loves with his whole heart, even as everything about his farming life bothers her. The farm life itself, with all of its brutal realities (there are some gruesome scenes of death), is carefully drawn in its totality. The writing is descriptive and vivid. There is a sadness and a hearkening back to the past that weaves through now adult Everett's recounting of 1995-96, the telling of a year that shaped him forever. If an abundance of farming details don't bother you as a reader, this deliberate and heartbreaking tale of growing up and becoming an adult, with all the joys and diappointments attendant on that growth, is worth the read.