41   United States (Oregon) – Richard Brautigan – So the wind won’t blow it all away– November 2016 (Score 6.85)

The story (only 104 pages long) starts with the narrator, a twelve year old boy who likes fishing in the local pond and collects beer bottles for the small amount of money he gets for each when he returns them to the depot. His family lives in poverty, so this helps to keep him in tennis shoes.

He recalls his early life when he was three and they lived in an apartment which had been part of a still active funeral parlour. He climbed on a chair to look out of the window to see early morning funerals and is astounded to see one which was clearly for a child. This seems a bit macabre for a three year old.

An elderly couple also fish at the pond, on the other side. Unusually they bring ir what looks to be all their possessions with them on a lorry, and set them up at the pond, sofas, tables, lamps (converted from electricity to work with liquid fuel). They also have dinner, eating all the fish they catch.

The story moves back and forth between his younger self and his older forty-something adult life. During this we learn that at an early stage he had to choose between spending his bottle money on one of two items. His selection led to an event in the woods which haunted him though the rest of the book.

This book has a Tom Sawyer feel, without the adventure. I didn’t enjoy it, and can only score it at 4.0.