author's novels one after another. As much as I do read, I don't think I have ever read this much by one author in such quick succession. It provides an interesting perspective.Keep the Change is the story of Joe Starling, an erstwhile painter living in Key West who abandons his girlfriend and makes his way back to his Montana roots. Seeking meaning in his life, he decides to try to work the rundown ranch that his parents left to his spinster aunt with the intent that it be passed down to him. Things get complicated when he reconnects with an old sweetheart, now married to an old rival, and his Key West girlfriend follows him to Montana.
Thematically we are dealing with what is very typical McGuane stuff here. Loneliness, love-hate relationships, difficult family bonds, and a faded dream of the American West. He paints his usual bleak picture of ranching, with rundown farms, an uncertain future and financial disaster looming in the distance. Starling is also fairly typical of McGuane's lead characters - simultaneously struggling with his past, present and future. As Starling's tale spins to a somewhat deflating ending, we are at least left with some hope that he has learned something along the way and has a more certain future ahead of him.
4 stars out of 5. Very good, but similar to his other works. If you like McGuane's other books you will like this. If you don't, you won't.
Books read this year: 29 [totalling 6,704 pages]
Published in 2010: still 17
New authors: still 16
Classics: still 3
I guess I should keep going and read Something to be Desired next...
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