ART IN AMERICA
Ron McLarty
Viking
Fiction
ISBN: 9780670018956
Steven Kearney is a plump, forty-something part-time playwright who, despite having written pages and pages of material, has yet to have anything produced or published. After his girlfriend dumps him for another man, and taking construction jobs to make ends meet, he moves in with his best friend, Roarke, a lesbian theater director desperate for inspiration just like he is. Seemingly out of nowhere comes an offer to be the playwright-in-residence in the small town of Creedemore, Colorado. With this honor comes the responsibility of writing a play to memorialize the town and its history. Kearney quickly accepts the position, thinking that this could be the job that gets those creative juices flowing. Colorado, here he comes!
Kearney lands in Creedemore, right in the center of a bitter land dispute that has locals pitted against one another. In an effort to take advantage of the breathtaking natural bounty around him, Mountain Man Red Fields has cleverly started his own whitewater rafting business. But old Ticky Lettgo has taken issue with the rafts floating through his land, although Mountain Man contends that no one owns the water. Ticky decides to make his point the best way he knows how --- with his shotgun --- and gets a little too close for the tourists' comfort, not to mention safety.
Amiable Sheriff Petey Meyers, a transplant from the Boston Police Department, is brought in to handle matters. Meyers is trying to adapt to life in Colorado but just can't seem to put his Beantown days behind him. His constant referrals (and sometimes flat-out conversations) to his slain partner lay bare just how his heart is not really in this job. He arrests Ticky, which kicks off a firestorm of media with everyone taking a very vocal side. Soon it doesn't seem to be about a dispute over land, but more a clash of the old chaffing against the new. After his arrest and his subsequent trial, Tick's ninety-something wife, Minnie, stops speaking and takes to her bed, with only the medal of her deceased Marine son to comfort her.
Meanwhile, Kearney is struggling to get a handle on the job at hand. How can you commemorate a town when it's not your own? Luckily, he meets muralist Mollie Dowse, who has been commissioned to paint a mural for the town celebration. Mollie, with her quick wit and survivor instinct (she's bravely going through a strong course of chemotherapy after suffering from breast cancer), quickly becomes Kearney's muse, and the two set out to inspire each other.
Ron McLarty has been known as a very prolific character actor for years. He first came to people's attention as a gifted novelist with his debut, THE MEMORY OF RUNNING. In this, his third outing, McLarty has all the requisite charm and colorful characters, but at times, the sheer number of individuals and situations seems to take away from the main narrative. Although it lacks the clear vision of his two earlier novels, ART IN AMERICA does display McLarty's talent as an author, which manages to shine clearly through the haze, as readers get caught up in the story unfolding before them.
--- Reviewed by Bronwyn Miller
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