Art in America

Can art heal a violent conflict? This delightful tall tale of the commissioning of a play to help bring together the two sides of a dispute over land and water rights in Colorado is wonderfully written and performed by its talented author. Ron McLarty's middle-aged, overweight protagonist, Steven Kearney, a sad-sack author with two garbage bags full of unpublished manuscripts, is unceremoniously tossed out by his girlfriend. McLarty affects a bewildered delivery and a leisurely pace, making his observations about the colorful characters living in the hamlet of Creedemore both insightful and funny. The story's life-affirming and uplifting ending is both hopeful and hilarious. Do people really talk like this? You bet'cha! R.O. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

April 21, 2008
Ambitious and consistently charming, this overstuffed third novel by the author of The Memory of Running
is brimming with gems of richly observed smalltown life. In Creedemore, Colo., a land-rights dispute pitches locals against one another and attracts national media attention. Into the fray arrives Steven Kearney, a prolific New York author of unpublished novels, poems and plays, who has been invited by the Creedemore Historical Society to write and direct a play dramatizing the town's history. Steven's relocation sparks a colorful fish-out-of-water story populated with cowboys, environmental activists, hordes of reporters, performance artists, ecoterrorists and bona fide outlaws. Keeping the peace is sheriff Petey Myers, whose recollections of (and occasional conversations with) his slain partner provide some of the novel's finest moments. Sparkling, at times hilarious dialogue keeps many—perhaps too many—subplots moving. The depth of characters like Steven and Petey is contrasted by some of the minor characters, who can come off as stereotypes. Still, readers will root for the residents of Creedemore as they alternately divide over a trial and come together to stage the new play.