Buckeye by Patrick Ryan: Inter-Generational Consequences in a Novel That Didn’t Fully Grab Me

Four flawed characters, a town shaped by wars, and the ripples of choices that echo across generations.

Synopsis

“A small-town novel of epic proportions” (Tom Perrotta), this captivating story weaves the intimate lives of two midwestern families across generations, from World War II to the late twentieth century.

“I love this book with my entire heart.”—Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful

In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.

Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.

Audiobook Review

4 stars (5 for the narrator Michael Crouch)

I had high hopes for this one, branded as “A Small Town Novel of Epic Proportions.”

Well, I got the small-town novel—but I didn’t quite see the epic proportions.

At its heart, this is the story of four main characters whose choices and mistakes leave consequences that ripple across generations. We follow them through First World War days and into the Vietnam era, watching their fates intertwine as they carry both burdens and secrets.

Cal, was born with a shorter leg that will prevent him to enroll in WWII. He will bear the weight of it for his whole life.

Becky can communicate with the dead. She feels an obligation to the dead and the living and will always refuse to take any money for her seances.

Margaret, our third character, has been abandoned as a baby and will be raised in an orphanage. Very beautiful, it’s probably the most ambitious character of the lot.

And lastly we have Felix. Engineer, kind, respectful and hiding a weighty secret that will have him living a half-life.

The pacing is slow, and at times—especially in the beginning—I considered DNF’ing.

It just took me a long time to feel invested in the characters.

Were they badly written? No. Two-dimensional? No. Too perfect or too flawed? Neither. I honestly don’t know why. I guess I would have loved more passion, more emotions and more yearning right from the start to have me FEEL for these characters.

I also expected more from the historical backdrop. The wars and small-town life between the 1940s and the 1970s are mentioned, but lightly. Maybe that wasn’t meant to be the book’s focus, but as a historical fiction fan, I found it underwhelming.

To sum it up: this is a good book—just not the best book for me.

Thanks for reading.

Sophie