Books on Tap met on Thursday, October 5 to discuss the semi-autobiographical Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison. We chose this book for Banned Books Week and learned that Evison’s Lawn Boy (for adult audiences) was conflated with Gary Paulsen’s Lawn Boy (for middle grade audiences) and Paulsen, resulting in the vilification of both authors, who received threats and endured vicious attacks. Paulsen died shortly after the controversy of Evison’s Lawn Boy.
It made me smile, then, that the first comment from our readers was that this was a “sweet book,” as ‘sweet’ is the ultimate antithesis of ‘pedophilia,’ the heart of the claim by one mom in Texas that incited momentum to ban the book. In addition to sweet, our readers found the book easy to read and follow, with a likable and sincere character. With an arguably “too optimistic” ending, some even found the storyline too sweet. For the record, Lawn Boy does depict sexual exploration – but only consensual acts between people of the same age. As a few readers noted, if this book needs a content warning, it would be one warning about Evison’s use of profanity and vulgarity (again, the book is written for adults).
This is a coming-of-age novel written for adults, and the adults in our group admired the saliency in Evison’s writing about certain feelings common among young adults: what am I doing with my life? Will I ever get anywhere in life? We talked about how the book deals with compulsions, especially to act in an almost self-sabotaging manner. We had personal examples to share of our own lives, or loved ones, experiencing the various degrees of “recklessness” or “thoughtlessness” of youth. Lawn Boy also grapples with ideas like loyalty and righteous anger. Our readers admired the inclusion of social issues surrounding work and poverty. When remembering certain scenes, our group audibly erupted into gasps and exclamations, proving this to be a vivid and emotional book.
This is a character-driven novel, and the characters are eccentric and filled with humanity. There were hysterically funny characters, “truly good” characters, rotten characters with lessons to teach nonetheless (and even the rotten ones have redeemable qualities), characters who served as foils, and for many/most of the characters, we readers had the delightful opportunity to witness growth and maturation. There are many obstacles for these characters to face – sick family members, unpaid bills, bad jobs, and outright discrimination – but moments of human grace and kindness shine through, making this a fun read for many.
Books on Tap meets again this upcoming Thursday to discuss The Accidental Tourist! All are welcome to join us at 7 pm in the back room of Beer Run. No advanced registration necessary, but for more information, email Krista at kfarrell@jmrl.org.
Upcoming titles:
November 2: The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
December 7: The Giant’s House by Elizabeth McCracken
January 4: Violeta by Isabel Allende
February 1: How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? By N. K. Jemisin
March 7: Same Page Selection
April 4: The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
May 2: All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
June 6: Solito: A Memoir by Javier Zamora
More to explore:
Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
The Gifted School by Bruce
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal
Indignation by Philip Roth
L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandon
The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell
Old School by Tobias Wolff
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson