A Good Animal by Sara Maurer

A beneficial aspect of my library job is that I see a lot of new items cross my desk before they are cataloged, processed, and sent out into circulation. When Sara Maurer's novel A Good Animal found its way into my work space, and I saw the setting was Sault Ste. Marie (MI), I knew I had to place a hold on it.

Now, here is where the danger comes in. Sometimes library holds are fulfilled at inopportune times, or the initial enthusiasm you had for the book has dulled. When my turn came, I was already reading a book that I didn't want to put down (Beeswing by Richard Thompson). I checked out A Good Animal, a 7-day loan, and it languished on dining room table for a week. When the due date arrived, I seriously considering taking the loss and returning the book without even cracking it open. I hate doing that.

Having finally finished Beeswing, I decided to ignore the overdue notice and give A Good Animal a shot. If it didn't grab me after the first ten pages or so, I'd return it. Well, I wouldn't be dedicating an entire post to this book if it didn't grab me by that ten page limit. Not only did it capture my attention, but I could barely put it down for three days. I finished the book on April 5, two days after the due date.

A Good Animal is narrated by 17-year-old Everett Lintz, a kid who has spent his entire young life with his mother, father, younger brother Jay, and younger sister Katie, on a sheep farm outside of Sault Ste. Marie. He has barely ventured anywhere beyond Chippewa County, and his life revolves around doing chores on the family farm, making extra money bailing hay with his extraverted friend Charlie, and indifferently biding his time in high school. Then, however, his somewhat dull existence is upended when he meets the beguiling and artistic newcomer Mary Williams. Mary has moved to the Sault with her Coast Guard father. Everett falls for her hard. Eventually, after a rocky start, the two develop a romance that will change their lives. And I will end my summary there. You will have to read the book to know how it ends.

There is A LOT about sheep farming in A Good Animal. I have read some reviews on Goodreads complaining about too much sheep farming. Well, here's the thing, Everett has lived his entire life living and breathing sheep farming. He knows it more than anything else, and he often finds parallels and connections between sheep life and human life. Sometimes Everett's observations annoy certain people in his life.

Having lived in Michigan's Thumb region from age 10-18--transplanted there from Detroit--I recognized so much in this book, but definitely identified more with outsider Mary than the other characters. I spent enough time with farm kids that I appreciated how Maurer captured the ease at which those kids navigate their farm lives. Unlike city slicker me, they never noticed the pungent smells, annoying flies, or loud noises of the farm animals. Unlike me, they never worried about getting hit by projectile shit flying out of the butt of a dairy cow. Unlike me, they didn't nearly pass out from bailing hay. (I bailed hay once and to this day, it's the hardest work I've ever done. All praise to farmers).

There are other details of small town adolescent life that Maurer nails: sitting around the fire pit in the summer, aimlessly driving on desolate country roads just for the hell of it, drinking cheap beer, hanging out at the county fair, coveting and babying a pickup truck. (As more of a "Mary" than an "Everett," I never wanted a pickup truck).

I unreservedly give this book five out of five stars.