When four mismatched misfits live together on a failing farm, with only half of them intent on changing the status quo, friction is bound to occur. Author Susan Juby creates not only believable friction, but laugh-out-loud fiction in her tale Home to Woefield . Juby, known for her young adult novels, playfully writes of the unlikely intersection of four personalities, Prudence, Earl, Seth, and Sara, on a dilapidated piece of farmland.
Prudence, a vegetarian and new age organic farmer wanna-be, has inherited a desolate farm from an uncle she has never visited. Earl, the elderly farmhand, is secretly trying to escape the shadow of his brother, a famous bluegrass musician. Neighbor Seth, a teen heavy metal fan obsessed with celebrities and alcohol, accidently becomes a boarder at the farm. (Prudence believes in nurturing subcultures.) Sara, the earnest elementary school Poultry Club prodigy, who is fascinated with the rapture, insists on a chicken coop worthy of her award-winning chickens.
Buying time from the bank, Prudence states her faux intention of running a treatment center, with Seth posing as her first client. A local writing club adopts Prudence as a teacher, despite her paltry qualifications. The more the community peeks into the farm's windows, the more the stage is set for misunderstandings, mishaps and mayhem, especially when a real stage is being built to showcase a come-back bluegrass concert.
Internal Monologues
Juby's ability to present the thoughts of four people with diametrically opposed personality traits, histories and beliefs is remarkable in itself. The way this author moves the story along is like a well-written stanza from a bluegrass standard, or maybe a fast-traveling heavy metal riff. Juby keeps the analogies in line with each character. When Seth describes Sara as the "Ted Nugent of little kids" and Earl nicknames Seth "Chubnuts" the reader chortles as Juby's zingers hit the bulls eye.
Setting
The novel was originally published in Canada. Hailing from Vancouver Island herself, Juby creates a sense of place in rural British Columbia as only an insider could. Despite being apty named, Woefield is a spot that many of us would like to go home to, at least, in our fantasies. Home to Woefield is the sort of novel - and Juby the sort of novelist - that makes the reader hope for a sequel.
Source
Juby, Susan. Home to Woefield. HarperCollins, New York. 2011. Originally published in 2010 in Canada by HarperCollins, Canada.
Gina Barrett Putt - Gina Barrett Putt works in housing, with experience in case management for elders and the mentally ill, and college and K-12 education.
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