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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

CSFF Blog Tour: The Charlatan's Boy Day Three

In my previous posts, I steadfastly avoided giving away the ending of The Charlatan's Boy. However, in order to highlight the novel's irony and remark on some of its themes, you have to know the ending, which is really the end of the beginning of Grady's life rather than the conclusion of anything. So, if you haven't read the book yet, and you should read it, stop reading if you don't want the ending spoiled.

Floyd and Grady succeed brilliantly creating a new Feechie scare. Grady does much of the legwork, tromping around through the forests at night to set off the noise maker, shoot arrows into barns and even moving wagons, and shout Feechie war cries. Grady witnesses first hand the terror that the noise maker can create. While out in the woods leaving Feechie signs one night, some hunters and their dogs tree Grady, thinking he is a raccoon. When the hunters start to chop down the tree, Grady sounds the noise maker. The hounds run away yelping and the hunters follow closely behind. Grady also demonstrates his ingenuity. He hangs the noise maker in a stand of pines with ropes and pulleys such that when the wind blows, the noise maker will sound its horrible bellowing. One night in the woods, Grady hears a strange cry that he knows must be a bog owl. According to Feechie folklore, the Feechies use that call to signal to one another. Grady is thrilled to finally hear something about which he has heard so much talk. At the Middenmarsh stock market, Grady's Feechie antics convince cattle drovers from all over Corenwald that the Feechies are on the move. Everyone is talking about Feechies and Floyd and Grady are able to revive the Feechie act. However, people are no longer just curious about Feechies. The scare has worked a little too well, and people are now frightened of Feechies to the point that they are prepared to do violence to them. Floyd and Grady make some alterations. Floyd ties a rope around Grady when he's in Feechie costume so that the villagers won't be afraid that he'll get away and kill them. Grady again feels that he is doing honest acting work.

As Floyd predicted, giving people a little push in the right direction is all it takes to manipulate public opinion. People want a show, and many will give up a few coppers to be entertained. As I was reading The Charlatan's Boy, I was struck by the similarities between writers and hucksters like Floyd. Both try to entertain. Both make things up and attempt to render a bunch of lies believable. Perhaps a writer is simply an honest huckster, one that admits that what he is selling is fiction.

Short-eared Owl, also known by
the common name Bog Owl.
Floyd decides to take the new Feechie act to the Tambluff stock market. In the town square, they find a slew of hucksters attempting to cash in on the Feechie craze. Floyd is angry. He doesn't like to share the benefits of his work. Floyd and Grady quickly prove to have the superior act and the crowd, which is very hostile to Grady the Feechie, drifts from the other acts to Floyd's wagon, but then some farmers show up with someone in a cage on a hay wagon. The farmers claim they caught their Feechie in a net near the Bayberry swamp. Floyd and Gardy are impressed as the Feechie looks very much like a Feechie, very much like Grady. Even stranger, the farmers are not trying to take any money from people. They tell their story and display their Feechie for free. As the crowd drifts toward the farmers, Floyd orchestrates a diversion. He falls from the wagon, claiming that Grady has gotten loose. In the ruckus that ensues, the crowd comes close to seriously harming Grady, but Floyd does nothing to save him. Floyd disowns Grady--apparently having a live Feechie is no longer necessary for his act--and the crowd tosses Grady in the cage with the farmers' Feechie. They stare at each other and Grady experiences a strange sense of recognition and familiarity. Then, the unthinkable occurs. An army of Feechies, whom all resemble Grady, come over the rooftops, making the bog owl bark and terrifying the people. The Feechies break open the cage. The Feechie in the cage beckons for Grady to join them. The Feechies are real, and Grady is one of them. As Grady learns when he arrives in the heart of the swamp, he has Feechie parents and they did lose him when they hid him under a palmetto bush.

The revelations in the novel's final chapters cast an ironic light on the story. Rogers has masterfully plotted his story, laying a field of mines that all go off when Grady's true identity is revealed. The story we thought we were reading becomes a different story. Floyd's most unbelievable tale about Grady's past is true and Floyd is shown to be a cruel liar. Grady feels such an affinity for playing a Feechie because he is a Feechie. Much of the folklore that Floyd and Grady use to add authenticity to their act has a basis in fact. As Grady's story suggests, the roots of myth and legend are often sunk in reality, a forgotten reality that seems too fantastic to believe.

Photo Credit: Short-eared Owl -- Amherst Island, Ontario, Canada -- 2006 February. Attributed to Mdf. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Charlatan's Boy from the publisher.

To learn more about the Jonathan Rogers, visit his website at http://jonathan-rogers.com/.

To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:

Sally Apokedak
Amy Bissell
Red Bissell
Jennifer Bogart
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie

Carol Keen
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
SarahFlan
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Robert Treskillard
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Elizabeth Williams
Dave Wilson

CSFF Blog Tour: The Charlatan's Boy Day Two

As I noted in yesterday's post, the driving force behind Grady's story is his search for belonging and identity. Ignorant of or indifferent to Grady's needs, Floyd allows Grady to drift and assume whatever identity is advantageous to Floyd's schemes. During the Feechie-act, Grady identifies himself as a Feechie; later he takes on the persona of a phrenologist's assistant; at the worst of times, Grady is merely a useful sidekick, someone to share the work. More than once, Grady wonders if Floyd might be his father, but Floyd never acknowledges him as a son. Remarking on why he keeps Grady around, Floyd says, "'I reckon I'm too tenter-hearted for my own good. But I hope you'll make yourself useful'" (p. 43).

So why does Grady not leave Floyd and strike off on his own? Following the demise of the ugly boy routine, Floyd tells Grady that he's not a Feechie, just a very ugly boy that his mother did not want, and that his loss in the ugly contest proves it. No civilizer boy could beat a Feechie for ugliness, at least according to common wisdom. Grady considers leaving, but decides against it.

Truth is, I forgave Floyd because I didn't know what else to do. I didn't have another person in the world but Floyd, and it hurt to have him disappointed in me.... It's a dangerous business, seeking the good opinion of a feller as unscrupulous as Floyd, but I kept after it (p. 42).

Later that day, the pair enter the town of Little Reedy and go to Short Fronie's public house, where Floyd hopes to win some money at cards. (Rogers populates the story with evocative and humorous names for people and places.) Floyd picks Ten-Finger Walter--a struggling phrenologist who is not very good at phrenology or cards--as his mark. While Floyd plays, Grady sits at the bar, telling Short Fronie about his troubles. Short Fronie is rough with the customers but has a tender heart for Grady and offers to let him stay with her. She's offering to become his mother. Grady has the opportunity of a lifetime thrust before him. He could become a villager and belong some place. Grady is overwhelmed and watches Floyd's card game as he tries to get his head around Fronie's offer. Floyd's game is going poorly, but Grady notices something about the way Ten-Finger eats his peanuts. During a break in the game, Grady tells Floyd what he has observed: when Ten-Finger has a good hand, he throws the shells on the floor, otherwise he puts them on the table. Armed with Grady's scouting report, Floyd makes short work of Ten-Finger, fleecing him for all his money and his phrenology equipment. Floyd tells Grady that he "saved the day." Grady tells Fronie he's sorry and then follows Floyd out the door.

Rogers presents a fascinating scene here that works on several levels. We move forward in the story from the ugly boy routine to phrenology. We see just how unscrupulous Floyd is. He has no qualms about pushing his advantage and taking everything from Ten-Finger. What's to stop him from doing the same to Grady? We're also left wondering why someone would not take the golden egg when it's presented to them. Are a few complimentary words from Floyd more valuable than a life of love and security with Fronie? Does Grady love Floyd as a parent? As Grady is well-aware, he has known no one else or any other life. Having proven himself useful, Grady is back in Floyd's good graces and opts to continue with the familiar, however unwise his choice appears.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Charlatan's Boy from the publisher.

To learn more about the Jonathan Rogers, visit his website at  http://jonathan-rogers.com/.

To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:

Sally Apokedak
Amy Bissell
Red Bissell
Jennifer Bogart
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie

Carol Keen
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
SarahFlan
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Robert Treskillard
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Elizabeth Williams
Dave Wilson

Sunday, December 5, 2010

CSFF Blog Tour: The Charlatan's Boy Day One

The Charlatan's Boy: A NovelFor this month's CSFF blog tour, we're reviewing Jonathan Rogers' The Charlatan's Boy, a charming picaresque story about hucksters and Feechies (more about them later), in which the narrator/protagonist makes a startling discovery concerning his identity. The action takes place in Corenwald, an island colony of farms, cattle ranches, mines and inhospitable swamps. Much of Corenwald's produce is shipped back to the continent from which the "civilizers" came. The setting has a nineteenth-century feel to it, probably because I associate it with nineteenth-century America as opposed to anything the author is doing. Firearms of any kind are distinctly absent. When hunters chase Grady across a swamp with their dogs and tree him, thinking he is a raccoon, they shoot at him with bows and arrows. The indigenous people of Corenwald are known as Feechies, a reclusive people who live in the swamps and generally avoid contact with the civilizers. The Feechies are so reclusive that many civilizers doubt their existence. Despite their pseudo-mythical status, Feechies have well-known traits. They are ugly, small, wiry, wear muskrat pelts, cover themselves with mud, wrestle alligators, and live in swamps. Corenwalders also consider them wild and dangerous.

Grady, the boy from the title, tells his story in a dialect reminiscent of the rural American South. To Rogers' credit, he maintains the dialect throughout the narrative, and coming from Grady and the other characters, the language sounds natural and unaffected. (Warning to parents: if you're hoping your children will learn sound grammar and diction from reading this book, they won't, but they might pick up a truth or two about human nature.) Grady's voice is infectious and works with his innocent honesty to endear him to the reader. Consider the following paragraph from the opening chapter:

I don't care who you are--when it comes to knowing where you come from, you got to take somebody else's word for it. That's where things has always got ticklish for me. I only know one man who might be able to tell me where I come from, and that man is a liar and a fraud (p. 2).

That's the crux of the story: who is Grady; where did he come from; who are his parents? Grady desperately wants answers to those questions and he dreams of having a proper home with loving parents. Instead, Grady has Floyd, the charlatan from the title. Grady's earliest memories are riding in Floyd's wagon. Floyd has told Grady many stories about his early life. In one version, Floyd says that he found Grady crying under a palmetto bush and took pity on him. Grady finds it hard to believe that Floyd would take pity on anyone. In a crueler story, Floyd claims to have bought Grady from a circus man, mistaking him for a monkey. Floyd tells another story in which Grady's mother gives the boy to Floyd because he's too ugly to keep. By most standards, Grady is ugly. He is short and wiry with close set eyes, one blue and one green. He has a single eyebrow stretching across his forehead and his small ears stick straight out. His weak chin is difficult to distinguish from his neck. Grady looks much like everyone's idea of a Feechie and according to Grady, "If you want to know the truth, I'm pretty sure that's why Floyd kept me" (p. 3).

At the start of the novel, Floyd and Grady are making their living from the Feechie-trade. They travel from village to village, putting on a show in which Grady stars as a genuine he-feechie and Floyd charges people a few coppers hear a lecture about the times he spent in the swamps with the Feechies. Floyd proves masterful at working a crowd and Grady plays the part of a Feechie to perfection. However, people eventually stop believing in Feechies, and Floyd has to come up with a different scam. Grady came to think of himself as a Feechie while they performed the Feechie shows and later looked back fondly on the feechie-trade as "honest" work. Floyd's next idea is to parade Grady around as the ugliest boy in the world and bet villagers that they do not have an uglier boy living in their village. This works until they meet a boy in a mining town that beats Grady for ugliness. They next try phrenology and do quite well. As Grady understands, the key to being a charlatan is reading people and Floyd is a master at it. He makes very educated guesses about people's traits and what they want to hear. The phrenology business comes to an end when an angry customer destroys their equipment. Grady tells a father the truth about a prospective son-in-law who is only interested in the daughter's dowry and tries to bribe Grady for a favorable reading. After trying some less than successful schemes, Floyd hits on a new idea, a grand scheme to bring back the good old days of the Feechie-trade. Floyd concocts a plan to create his own Feechie scare. They create arrows and spears from flint and a noise-maker that bellows like a swamp monster. The idea is to make strange noises in the forests and swamps near villages and shoot "Feechie" arrows in the sides of houses and barns. Floyd believes that if enough people  talk about Feechies, people will start believing in Feechies, and he and Grady can return to the Feechie-trade. The plan works. The Feechie scare takes hold but with consequences that neither Floyd nor Grady could ever imagine.

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Charlatan's Boy from the publisher.

To learn more about the Jonathan Rogers, visit his website at  http://jonathan-rogers.com/.

To learn what the other CSFF bloggers are saying, follow the links below:

Sally Apokedak
Amy Bissell
Red Bissell
Jennifer Bogart
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Christian Fiction Book Reviews
Valerie Comer
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Bruce Hennigan
Christopher Hopper
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie

Carol Keen
Shannon McDermott
Allen McGraw
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Donita K. Paul
SarahFlan
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Robert Treskillard
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Elizabeth Williams
Dave Wilson