I found this locally set novel at the Columbus, Nebraska library booksale. And bought it simply because it is local. I know nothing of it.

Here is the strange thing. I read this book of a boy who moved from Utah to western Nebraska a week before I moved from Nebraska to western Utah! I just got a new job in Bryce Canyon National Park and thought I should read the Nebraska based book before I left the state.

I can't say I really cared for this novel. The local Nebraskans are portrayed very unsympathetically, I thought. Narrow, closed-minded, ignorant farmers and drunks who go around killing people and committing suicide. At least, that's what stuck out to me. There was no one character I liked for the entire book. There were moments I liked each character, but then they would do something that I detested.

Not a feel good book.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I had given this to my mother to wild release in Nebraska when I was living in Utah (back in September). Last I talked to her she had forgotten to release it, but now I find she has passed it on to a friend.

I received this book from a friend and was interested in reading it because it had been the subject of city-wide reading groups. Perhaps I expected too much. From the reviews, for instance, I expected to know at least one character. That never happened. There are improbable situations and story line gaps that defy a close encounter with anyone. Many of the intended symbolisms seemed contrived. Small town USA was misrepresented as a whole, although my own bias may have contributed to this reaction. I have lived in large cities (Denver and Chicago) and small towns in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska; most of the people with lives such as Mr. McNeil described in Goodnight Nebraska were in the large cities. I will release this book for others to read; I only hope they aren’t expecting too much!

CAUGHT IN COLUMBUS NE USA