Bow's Boy : A Novel

From Publishers Weekly The Vietnam War casts its long shadow over a small Wisconsin town in this second novel by Babcock (Martha Calhoun), which chronicles the dramatic intersection of the lives of two vastly different characters, wealthy criminal attorney G. Bowman Epps and high school athlete Ginger Piper. As narrated by Charlie Stewart, a longtime associate of the lawyer, the story of this unlikely friendship unfolds slowly but deliberately. Bow has a well-earned reputation as a gifted barrister capable of defending the slimiest of criminals, and Ginger is a teenage star from the wrong side of the tracks, but their differences are erased when they meet in the spring of 1966, after Ginger gives a moving eulogy for a high school friend killed in Vietnam. Bow sees Ginger's potential and becomes his mentor, as chronicled in a series of masterful scenes. When Gary Fontenot, a convict defended by Bow, escapes and is found dead nearby, evidence surfaces that Ginger may have helped him flee. As a result, Bow's reputation is tarnished and his friendship with Ginger is strained. After barely surviving his legal woes, Ginger, who had joined the antiwar movement in the area, finds himself facing one crisis after another in the conservative town until he enlists in the army and is shipped off to Vietnam. Babcock's plot is familiar, but carefully crafted characters with meaningful inner lives and distinctive voices keep the reader engaged, and the story builds up to a quiet and powerful conclusion. Babcock accurately and sensitively captures a fraught historical moment and its devastating impact on all of the people who lived it.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal The average man may never meet a person with the potential to be great. Charlie Stuart considers himself fortunate, for he has met two: Bowman Epps, the criminal lawyer for whom he works as an investigator, and Ginger Piper, star guard on the high school basketball team. Set in Laroque, WI, during the mid-1960s, Babcock's second novel (after Martha Calhoun) takes a close look at growing up in small-town America when the Vietnam War is just beginning to take its toll on the young. As the novel opens, Ginger is accused of helping a prisoner escape from the state penitentiary; having assisted in an appeal of the prisoner's case while working a summer job in Bow's law office, he had both the knowledge and the means, but he staunchly maintains his innocence. Bow, too, denies involvement in the escape, and he and Ginger see the case to its tragic conclusion, each paying in his own way for misjudgments and pride. Telling his tale from Charlie's perspective, Babcock, editor in chief of Chicago magazine, has crafted beautifully intricate characters to produce a wonderful snapshot of 1960s America, overlaid with a story of conflict and mystery that adults and young adults will embrace. Highly recommended for most literary fiction collections.