John Brandon (2)

Nobody in Citrus County seems to fit comfortably in the world. Mr. Hibma, a caustic middle-school geography teacher, burnt-out at twenty-nine and full of plots to kill another teacher. Toby and Shelby, students in the same school, adrift and friendless, except for each other. Both have lost their mothers, Shelby to an unnamed tragedy – and now her young sister has gone missing. “Her and her father’s lives were a series of injuries and insults to those injuries.”

Toby is actually show more fatherless too, and lives with his uncle, a hemlock-growing, banana-peel smoking misanthropic depressed hermit.

Few of the adults in their lives have set much an example: “Toby did not deny that Uncle Neal was crazy. But Shelby’s aunt sounded crazy. Her dad was crazy, now. Coach Scolle was an asshole. Mr. Hibma was a weirdo. In the northern part of the county there were churches full of Pentecostals who handled snakes.”

Like even normal adolescents, Toby and Shelby are even uneasy with each other: “You look flustered.” Shelby said. “Before I knew you, I never took you for such a flustered dude.”
“Before I knew you, I wasn’t,” said Toby.

Citrus County has a swampy air of tragedy, tempered with humor, humanity and vibrant writing. show less

First of all, you really should read this one, but if there ever was a book out there that was hard to describe...this would be it. So, here goes nothing.

Set in the small town of Lofte, outside of Albuquerque, this novel has a wide cast of colorful characters. There is Soren, a young boy who fell into a coma after brilliantly playing the piano for the first time. A fanatical group of well-wishers hold vigil outside the hospital, among them is Cecelia. She is a former member of a band called show more "Shirt of Apes" and she loves and misses Reggie, her bandmate, now dead and caught in a holding cell in the afterlife, writing songs for his freedom. Then let's not forget Dannie, a woman who has left behind her entire previous life in CA and soon meets her younger boyfriend, Arn, who may just be the wiser of the two. Oh! And then there is also the Mayor of a dying town and the music-haunted wolf. A wolf? Let me excerpt some of the author's answers as to why he wanted a wolf as one of the characters (from an interview by Powell's Indiespensable Books).

Brandon: "I'm not going to have any kind of good answer for that. {Laughter} I can't remember when he came about, but he was one of the later characters...I don't think I got interested in him until I realized that maybe he was immortal. Then, I saw an arc for him. All I knew at the beginning with him was that he was losing instinct and gaining knowledge...I knew that he had something to do with music."

This is the third book by Brandon. I have not read his first two, but rumor has it A Million Heavens has the same deadpan humor and lyrical prose, but warmer characters with a lighter story. All I can say is that I loved it. Beautiful, poetic, surprising. The characters are flawed and quirky and engrossing. Some of them have back stories and some of them don't. Their stories intertwine in unexpected ways and we share their hunger and pain. We root for the lovers and for the boy. Music resonates throughout this book, but it is also filled with the beauty of silence, the desert at night beneath the stars. show less

A somewhat mystical book that follows several people, beings and animals through their real problems in a New Mexico desert town. A boy in an unexplained coma, his grieving father, members of an estranged family, and a wolf. A wolf. Oh, and a dead musician who writes songs for his former bandmate (who is part of the estranged family and also part of a group that holds vigils outside of the hospital for the boy in the coma.) They converge with each other, touching lives briefly, and dancing show more away again.

This is, to me, a truly original work, and it carries a message of unity and hope. show less

Probably my biggest disappointment of the year, Citrus County by John Brandon was not the book I was hoping for. A confusing and convoluted story of two high school students. Shelby is a girl with a good reputation who gets good marks in school and is responsible and considerate. Toby comes from way beyond the tracks, has no family except a very strange suicidal uncle and is constantly in trouble, considered cunning rather than smart. Toby has plans however and before long he has abducted show more Shelby’s younger sister. Throughout the book we see how these two slowly reverse roles as Toby learns he has to stay out of trouble and be responsible for the child he has taken while Shelby struggles with her family falling apart and feeling like nothing is worthwhile. She rarely bothers to show up to school, lets her schoolwork slid and becomes surly and troublesome.

Meanwhile there is one other storyline to follow, that of Mr. Hibma. This geography teacher who hates teaching and spends his class time fantasizing about murdering Mrs, Conner, the rule orientated English teacher who regards Mr Hibma as a less than desirable addition to the school. He appears to be at a crossroad in his life but is lacking any interest in finding a direction to follow.

I never connected with the story or the characters in this book. I found the fact that the abducted little girl was never given a voice, was little more than a plot device rather distasteful. I have had Citrus County on my shelves for some time and was looking forward to it as it has received a great deal of praise from the critics and an Alex Award nomination, unfortunately this wasn’t a book for me. show less