Becky's Great Book Reviews Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan is perfection. A Saga spanning from the 1940's through 1980, this all-encompassing look at two family's experiences in middle America from World War Two to the Vietnam war and beyond is not to be missed. This book will stay with me.

Becky and Cal Jenkins marry at the start of the second world war when Cal is rejected from military service because of one leg being shorter than the other. This point is revisited as an identity-crisis that Cal takes on and carries with him through life.

When Cal encounters Margaret Salt at the hardware store he runs for his father-in-law in small-town Ohio, he has no idea the impact their subsequent actions will have; and how they will shape the lives of their respective families.

Margaret's husband Felix is stationed on a warship in 1945, and when he returns two years later as a shell of the person he was before he left, the two circle around each other. Even when their son Tom is born, Margaret and Felix cannot find happiness as a couple.

Becky and Cal's son, Skip, finds a deep friendship and connection with Tom that the two boys don't understand as kids. This connection is the result of one secret (among many) that the characters of this novel hold.

Lies and what they cost: therein lies just one gut-wrenching theme of this novel. However, the hope and joy of this beautifully written story, along with the promise of forgiveness, bring everything together in a breath-taking way. Patrick Ryan's characters will live rent-free in my mind forever. Buckeye gets a resounding five out of five stars from me.