Land O’Goshen (St. Martin’s, 1994) by Charles McNair is the story of an orphaned boy fighting against the southern evangelical society he lives in. Buddy, a young boy in Goshen, Alabama has no-one. His family died fighting what can only be called religious warfare. His parents died on “Big Boom Day,” followed by his brother’s death shortly thereafter. Because of this, Buddy is full of anger…..anger towards the society that killed his brother and anger towards the God he’s supposed to believe in for taking his family away from him. To cope, Buddy has created an alter ego-a creature named Sack. Buddy has put together a costume and when he puts it on, when Sack and he are one, he calls himself “The Wild Thing,” and takes extreme pleasure in scaring groups of Bible belters. In bars, where all the folks are drinking milk, because alcohol has been banned, Buddy and Sack jump out, growl and watch as dozens of people run away. On one of his scare missions, Buddy meets Cissy, a young orphan herself, trapped in the trunk of a car owned by one of the hotshot boys in town. Cissy becomes Buddy’s roadside companion, as they plow their way through the dense woods of Alabama.
Buddy knows the way of the woods like he knows the palm of his hand. He teaches Cissy about edible plants, animals to watch out for and how to cook meals. Buddy may be her nature guide, but Cissy becomes Buddy’s guide to learning there’s more to life than always fighting. Cissy has a similar past to Buddy’s. Her dad died due to a helicopter crash during the war. He initally survived the crash, undergoing severe surgery and suffering for months on end until he finally passed away.
What I love about this book is the contrast in characters-Cissy’s sweetness paired with Buddy’s roughness is charming. The desciription of the south is impeccable. It feels dirty, grimy and sweaty, and I mean that as a compliment. Many chapters are chock full of description and sometimes there isn’t much dialogue. Cissy and Buddy are simple, down-to-earth kids. When they talk, they’ve got something to say and sometims they say some pretty profund, mature things, due to their loneliess and grim situation. When Cissy became scared of some of the animals in the woods, Buddy responded, ” They ain’t nearly as scarey as people and what people do for no reason at all. See, people can hate you when they never even met you. There’s nothing in these woods, nothing in any hole or holler or up under any log, that hates you like that.”
