LEAN ON PETE (edition 2010)

What a great novel this was – the simply and starkly written account of Charley, a young boy in the neglectful care of his single father. His life starts off tough and gets steadily tougher. The synopsis on the back talks of his involvement with a racehorse, and I was expecting a book about the horseracing scene, but it heads in directions I didn’t expect. Comparisons on the back cover with ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ are spot on. The reader hopes for a happy ending, but all the time fears things will go as badly as they did in ‘Grapes’. It was a harrowing read, all the more so for the bleak emotionless first-person narrative. Many themes emerged: Charley’s mistrust of the ‘system’, the way the crimes he commits from the earliest stages in the book never seem shocking, and the way he never loses his own humanity and generosity (thinking particularly of the doughnuts). Of all the books I took on holiday with me, this was the outstanding read. ( )

a minor masterpiece. magnificent simple clear prose. A touching story of a teen and a horse named Pete. If you like reading about low rents a la Carolyn Chute this book is for you. Compelling. Definitely worth a detour. ( )

Fifteen year old Charlie Thompson lives with his unreliable single father who is unable to stay any place for long. Charlie has no friends as he moves around so frequently, and when they move to Portland, Oregon, before the start of the year at his new school he often finds himself on his own for days at a times, having to fend for himself. He manages to get a job working with horses at Delta Park, that's where he meets Lean on Pete, a four year old racehorse to whom he becomes particularity attached, and who will become the cause of his sudden departure from Portland and the beginning of an unenviable mission to find a place for himself in the world, somewhere he can call home.

Lean on Pete is a touching tale of a young boy who wants nothing more than to be able to finish school, join the school football team, and have a secure family home. Charlie tells his own tale in his own no-nonsense fashion as he tries to find just that. The result is an appealing and heart warming read, filled with a cast of mist-fits, the good natured, and the not to be trusted.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Lean on Pete, Willy Vlautin slipped up very much in his portrayal of the WatchTower distributor who Charlie meet on his journey. Someone distributing the WatchTower could be only a JW, and no JW would behave as did the one Charlie encountered. In fact had Charlie meet any JW his problems would have been solved instantly, they have a reputation for going out of their way to help anyone, as I know from personal experience. ( )

Do children like Charley Thompson exist today? You better believe they do. It breaks my heart. Managing to live, cope with the challenges of life -- loss of parents, not enough food, little or no supervision/parenting, survival... but with dreams. A definite read. (Of course, the fact that it is set primarily in Oregon doesn't hurt either.) ( )

Charley and his single Dad had lived in Portland for only a couple of weeks when 15-year-old Charley suddenly finds himself on his own (as if his life with an absent, uncaring father wasn't bed enough!) He finds work at a nearby racetrack where he cares for an old broken-down horse named Lean on Pete. Charley's boss and Pete's owner is Del, a mean old alcoholic. Del pays him when he feels like it, and yells at him often, but Charley's attachment to Pete makes it worth sticking it out. Until he hears Del say that it's time to send Pete to the glue factory. That's the day Charley decides it's time to light out for the country.

Throughout Charley's story one bad thing after another happens to him---and yet, he is always rescued by a kind stranger, or an unusual circumstance. This just didn't ring true--it happened so many times that it began to feel like a "Fortunately--Unfortunately" story. Vlautin's writing is fine--very direct simple language that just tells the story. A quick, pleasant read, but not up there with the best of them. ( )