Valentine: A Novel

Wetmore focuses her stunning novel, VALENTINE, on race, class and gender. She views these issues through the lenses of four marginalized women living in Odessa, Texas in the late 70’s. Indeed, this time and place also are central to her novel since Odessa is a boom town benefiting from its proximity to the “oil patch” but stifled by overt prejudices. Women need to bear and raise children while cheering on their men; Mexicans are inherently inferior, corporate profits take precedence over environmental degradation; and the homeless should remain invisible.

Events serve to rip away these façades for these women. Clearly, the most compelling life changing event in the novel is the brutal rape of Gloria Ramírez, a Mexican teenager show more whom the community condemns for her accusation. After all, her attacker was from a well-respected family and who would wants to see this fine young man ruined by a youthful mistake? Sadly, the outcome is neither surprising nor unfamiliar. Gloria’s solution is to withdraw.

Mary Rose Whitehead witnesses Gloria following the crime and is outraged enough to testify on her behalf. As the wife of a young rancher, pregnant and the mother of Amy, she is threatened by some in the townsfolk while being castigated by her husband for getting involved in the first place. Mary Rose’s solution is to stay and fight like hell.

Corinne Shephard’s transformative event is the suicide of her terminally ill husband, Potter. She self-medicates with alcohol and withdraws. Clearly, she has her own suicidal thoughts by sitting in Potter’s truck in the garage but always turns it off, leaving the keys behind (possibly for another try later?). Corrine’s solution is to find some comfort in caring for Mary Rose and her children.

Debra Ann Pierce (known as D.A.) is a 10-year-old neighborhood girl who has been abandoned by her mother. D.A.is underestimated by most adults but clearly is wise beyond her years. Possibly because of her own sense of abandonment and neglect, she adopts a homeless Vietnam vet who also is a misfit. Some might say he has PTSD, but Wetmore never goes there. D.A. copes by activism and showing him empathy.

Wetmore’s writing is assured. Her characters are nuanced, and she treats them sympathetically. However, the inclusion of Suzanne Ledbetter, the busy-body neighbor, and Karla, the 17-year-old bartender introduced at the end of the novel seem a little too contrived to be very believable. Wetmore’s descriptions of West Texas are particularly effective, especially the many spot on similes. The shifting perspectives of the women characters give the plot breadth while never losing focus on the story and its setting. One minor flaw in her narrative seems to be a tendency for didacticism. show less

West Texas. 1976. Pumpjacks, rattlers, heat and dust. Glory, a fourteen year old Mexican girl is brutally attacked by a young, pick-up driving roughneck. She appears on the front porch of a rancher's wife, naked and broken. The rest of the novel unfolds in alternating view points, each featuring a woman, that has been touched by Glory's assault. It also explores the injustices and trials of being a woman in a male-dominated world. This is tough stuff and the author handles it all with a deft and insightful approach. She grew up in this region and you can feel it on every page. An impressive debut and one of my favorite surprise reads of the year.

Wow. That's a gut punch. Raw, gritty, and profound. It made me feel l just read some Appalachian noir. Set in West Texas during the late seventies; a fourteen year old Hispanic teenager is brutally and horrifically raped and assaulted and it tears the small town of Odessa apart. For many of the Bible thumping, good ol' boy residents, that young boy (who works in the oil fields) is innocent until proven guilty. Besides she was asking for it! For Mary Rose the woman who found poor Gloria, bloodied and barefoot after crawling across the desert to escape the man who brutalized her, it's insane that anyone could place blame on the girl. She's only fourteen, she's a child! Told in alternating perspectives from different women in the town; show more this story will captivate, enrage, and haunt readers. Wonderful storytelling! show less

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore is a 2020 Harper publication.

Phenomenal Debut!

After fourteen- year old Gloria Ramirez is beaten and raped, she escapes her attacker, finally making her way to the doorstep of Mary Rose Whitehead. Mary Rose was home alone with her daughter, but bravely keeps Gloria safe with so small danger to herself. However, once the immediate threat has passed, Mary Rose discovers the community is far from impressed by her act of courage and heroism.

Because the accused rapist is a well- connected young white man and Gloria is a Hispanic girl- Mary Rose’s non-conformity not only earns her sharp rebukes from other women she associates with, but she could be the target of revenge- especially since she refuses to let the show more matter die.

Eventually, the boiling hot stew of racism, misogyny, injustice, fear, and stress, brings Mary Rose to the brink of madness…

I chose this book for several reasons. One, it was set in Texas in mid-seventies- in Odessa- and because I noticed how well it was received, and because I just had one of those feelings- like the book was calling me.

My instincts paid off- but this book was far more impressive than I had anticipated. In fact, I’m not sure my review could do this book justice.

When Mary Rose lays eyes on the battered Gloria Ramirez, she sees the hard, cold truth about her environment, she fears for her daughter’s future, and knows that someone has to speak up for Gloria, that someone has to fight for her, because evidently, no one else will.

Yet her determination to see justice done, to testify to what she saw and experienced that fateful day when Gloria came to her home, will place her in a very dangerous position, heightening her distress, but never beating back her courage. Still, her constant worry takes a toll on her mental state, the pressures and internal turmoil eventually reaching a breaking point.

The author absolutely nails the atmosphere of Odessa: The seclusion, the attitudes, the climate, and the economical tension bubbling beneath the surface-while exquisitely capturing an era of time where women are mere extensions of their husbands, where their jobs are to be someone’s wife and someone’s mother.

The accurate divide between class and race is vivid, and painfully drawn as are the stellar characterizations. Besides, Mary Rose, whose husband is often away and who is pregnant with her second child, her neighbor Corrine, a recent widow, instantly wins my respect. The two women form an unlikely bond, sharing the same feelings of frustration. I loved the way Corrine protected Mary Rose and stuck up for her, keeping a watchful eye on her.

Debra Ann, a child whose mother abandoned her, and who is left mostly to her own devices, is also a vibrant character who befriends a homeless war veteran.

Each character has an internal dialogue, giving the reader a personal and intimate look at their thoughts, revealing their hopes, fears, regrets, and longing. It is easy to lose oneself in each of these narratives, which are like vignettes inside a broader story. This strong feminine cast shines brilliantly against the stark, gritty reality of the old dusty oil town, and will leave an enduring imprint on my soul.

Overall, this is a gritty, compelling, and powerful debut. It is unflinching, no holds barred, driving home a clear message that will resonate with many readers and women who still fight against a system that favors ‘good ole’ white boys, who come from a good family’. Trust me, the author knows and understands this landscape intimately. The love/hate emotions for Odessa and Texas is palpable, and although I’ve never made it that far west, on many days, that conflict is a feeling I know all too well.

Yet, despite the stormy, and nearly unbearable, suspense, there is also an undertone of sensitivity, too. The writing is splendid- goose-pimply good- drawing comparisons to some heavy hitters in Texas literature. This one earns a top spot on the 2020 favorites list!

Hitting the recommend button on this one!! READ THIS BOOK! show less

This solemn first novel of Odessa, Texas, vividly depicted as the most miserable locale in America - is sopping with oil and gas booms and busts, violent men, and women who must stifle themselves, get out, or get dead. The intertwined stories of a disparate group of women and girls are explored; two of them have made bad choices of pregnancy and marriage and in giving up on their potential early on. Another is a retired English teacher who never imagined that her own husband would die first, because "he was better at living." A Mexican-American girl, fourteen and bored, climbs into a car with a stranger at the drive-in and suffers a terrible rape. A ten year old, abandoned by her mother, puts aside her imaginary friends to aid a show more floundering, wounded ex-military loner who survives by cleaning a strip club. The two girls will hopefully move into much healthier circumstances than the adult women who try to care for them. The misery of the setting and lives is redeemed by the fine writing and the brave actions of the heroic women.

Quote: "She has watched her own kith and kin pour the poison into their best glassware, spoon it onto the plates and bowls their ancestors hauled in wagons from Georgia and Alabama, all while proclaiming that they worked for everything they ever got and nobody ever gave them nothing, they earned it, living and dying in that refinery, in those fields, and they can't do a goddamn thing about the people who control the purse strings and hand over their paychecks, who can put them out of work with a wink and a nod, but they sure can point a finger at someone else." show less

The year is 1976 and Odessa, Texas is experiencing an oil boom. Men from different locations have all come to the fields, looking for work and a chance to make big money. They are hard working, but also hard drinking, which creates potential problems for the women in the town.

The book opens with an act of violence against a 14 yr. Old Mexican girl. When she turns up on Mary Roses doorstep, her horrifying condition brings out the defender in her. Her defense of this girl and the violence done by the young man who arrives shortly after looking for the girl, will change the life of her family.

Many in the town defend the young man and Mary Rose receives threats and pressure to not testify. Many in the town think the girl was asking for it show more and even if not she was only a Mexican so what does it matter.

We hear from the women themselves, those who support Mary Rose and try to help her. We hear from a young ten year old girl, whose mother has left and whose father is always working. She befriends a young man who is living in a drainage pipe. Soon things will get out of control.

Terrific renderings of time and place, one feels as if they were living in this dust laden town. The way the story is put together reminds me of Elizabeth Strout and the way she structures her stories.. This is about women living within and trying to avoid the potential violence that is all around. Women's strength and vulnerability. Although it is violence that starts this story it is not a thriller, but rather about a town divided by racial injustice and how the women cope with what has happened and their lives as they try to hold on to what is important. This is a terrific book with a real message that is even more important today.

ARC from Edelweiss. show less

It's quite a feat that there are a handful of perspectives here and Wetmore writes so that you immediately empathize with these women. But then again, how could you not empathize with women in 1970's Texas? With so much against them -- even the land or the violence of men who can get away with anything? I just want to pluck these characters out of the book to give them a chance. It's tough for everyone really though. It seems lives are controlled by four things only: oil, drought, tornadoes or cattle. Wetmore's writing is brutal yet beautiful. It reminded me of a less magical realist 'Swamplandia', 'To Kill A Mockingbird', Flannery O'Connor's starkness and the lonely (but not lonely enough to avoid trouble) deserty feel of 'The Never show more Open Desert Diner' by James Anderson. show less