Tumbleweeds

May 28, 2012
Meacham (Roses) explores a small-town love triangle against the backdrop of Texas football in her overblown latest. Since childhood, Trey Don "TD" Hall and best friend John Caldwell have cared primarily for football and one another. But when recently orphaned Catherine Ann Benson moves to town to live with her grandmother, the boys are immediately drawn to her. At first, the three sixth-graders are just fast friends, but after adolescence sets in, their relationship deepens and complicates. Despite the boys' stellar high school football careers and Catherine Ann's equally sterling academic record, their future plans are fumbled thanks to a botched prank, a secret infatuation, and an accidental pregnancy, all of which will have consequences stretching far into the future. Spanning nearly 30 years, the novel seems unsure of its intentions: is it a romance, a sports saga, or a murder mystery? Most jarring is the novel's unevenness of tone; a detailed description of autoerotic asphyxiation feels out of place compared to rosy-hued scenes of young love, and the poorly-plotted murder mystery is an awkward and unnecessary appendage to what could otherwise have been a satisfying drama.

In the Texas Panhandle, an unlikely friendship is forged between three sixth-graders: two local football jocks and a more sophisticated California girl who was uprooted when her parents were killed in an accident. In time, a love triangle forms and is shattered by a wretched presumption that is tragically resolved when the trio reunites 20 years later. Angle Masters delivers the story with subtle Texas accents and quiet respect for small-town life. Aside from occasional dialogue in which the two male protagonists sound too similar to distinguish, her restrained characterizations enhance the multilayered personalities in the story. Masters skillfully imparts the heartbreak of love that endures amid misunderstanding. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine