From the Black Hills

by Judy Troy

Book Overview

A decent, ordinary life jeopardized by a catastrophically extraordinary event: this is the story, mythic in its outline and substance, that Judy Troy--author of two New York Times Notable Books and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375502300
• ISBN13: 9780375502309
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

The book and its setting match

Mike Newlin is a pretty mature kid who faces issues that no one should have to. His father kills the office receptionist, with whom he had been having an affair, and then goes on the lam. This book covers that magic time in a kid's life between high school graduation and the beginning of college - when you are full of anticipation and between two lives. Instead of just spending time with his girlfriend, lusting after his employer's wife and getting ready to go to SDSU, he has to deal with the additional issues of his reaction to his father's actions, his mother's way of coping with this event and a nosy detective. It's no surprise that college doesn't go as it should for Mike, although when the book ends you hope that he will be able to have a new beginning. I particularly liked the role of the Black Hills and the Badlands in this book. The desolate beauty of the area fit the despairing theme of this book very well.

In the Heart of the Heart of the Country

Like a skillful heart surgeon, Judy Troy makes no wasteful motions. Her prose is elegant, spare and clean, slightly like Hemingway's. Her work resembles even more closely the novels of another contemporary writer: Richard Ford. I loved his "Independence Day", and "From the Black Hills" echoed the subject matter and style of that book. Both deal with numb, intelligent teenage boys who struggle with their fragile male egos and fantasies at the same time that they struggle to do the right thing. Both have difficult, painful relationships with their fathers. However, "From the Black Hills" is far from a carbon copy. From the beginning of this novel, one gets the impression of falling, depression and disintegration. This sense comes from being parked closely, as readers, inside Mike's head. As the book develops steam, it becomes clear that Mike's depression and sense of helplessness spring from the feeling that he must follow in his disturbed father's footsteps. The fear that many of us have, that we will become our parents, in Mike becomes almost complete psychological and moral paralysis. Ms. Troy does an excellent job of presenting the inner workings of a tormented boy -- I had to check the jacket cover to find out that she was a woman and not just writing from experience. I loved this book 95%, and couldn't stop talking about it to my friends when I finished it. I immediately passed it on. My one complaint is the ending. Although it is not entirely implausible, it's a little too quick and pat. Otherwise, it was a wonderful book.

Capitvating insights into the sensibility of a young man

This is a rare novel in its presentation of a young man (just out of high school) in a time of stress; this boy has a heightened sensibility that captivates the reader. It makes a wonderful antidote to boys-as-screwups, the more common story. This one will make you fall in love. And my husband assures me that Mary Troy really does understand boys.

A poetic and profound coming-of-age psychological mystery.

New Yorker short story author Judy Troy has never written more compellingly and beautifully. From page one you cannot put this novel down. Power accumulates from page to page. An astonishingly powerful novel!