Days of Little Texas -- R. A. Nelson
When Ronald Earl Pettway was five (or six, he's not rightly sure) years old, his father was arrested on a drug charge. A short time later, his mother died in a meth lab explosion.
He was taken in by his aunt, Miss Wanda Joy King.
When he was ten years old, in San Angelo, Texas, he performed his first miracle of healing at the World-Famous Lake Nasworthy Lamblast and Chili Cook-off. Now sixteen, he's still known as Little Texas, still filling tents across the country, spreading the gospel with Miss Wanda Joy, Sugar Tom, and Certain Certain.
But he's starting to have doubts. Is this what he's going to do for the rest of his life? Is it even what he wants to do for the rest of his life?
And then he heals a girl in a blue dress, a girl who's about his own age, a girl named Lucy. Or at least, he thinks he does.
Until she starts appearing to him, again and again, in place after place. Is she trying to find him to thank him for healing her? Is she really even there? Is she even still alive? Did he really heal her?
Holy cow, there's a lot to this book. So much that I broke my usual Don't Mention Anything Past Page Fifty In The Synopsis rule, and still didn't touch on some of the themes and storylines. In addition to the obvious—religion and ghost story—the book also explores Ronald Earl's sexual awakening, celebrity/theatre, forgiveness and redemption, and the nature of evil. It's a book that will bear a few read-throughs, too—as I've been flipping through to check the passages I marked, I've been wondering about aspects of the story that didn't occur to me the first time through. For instance? Did Ronald Earl really, truly heal Certain Certain that time in Texas? Or was it all a show cooked up by Certain Certain and Wanda Joy, a way to make Roland Earl a True Believer, and thus, a better showman?
I really, truly don't know.
Anyway. So we've got Roland Earl's crisis of faith*—not so much a question of whether or not he believes in God, but a question of whether or not he believes in himself as a conduit to God, and whether or not he believes that this is the life he wants to lead. More and more, he's starting to doubt his aunt's motives. She dresses him in too-large clothes to make him look younger, is frank about their dependence on his preaching for their income, and sometimes seems more concerned with the theatre aspect of the revivals than the preaching:
"That's all I have to say**. Except this: you are not only a professional, Little Texas, you are also a celebrity. More than a celebrity. You are a living representative of the One True God. With that status comes a responsibility. You have to treat these people as your fans, as much as I despise the word. No matter how they behave. No matter what you feel like. Do you understand me?"
We've also got his sexual awakening, which both confuses and worries him (in the form of wet dreams and the like) and excites and pleases him (in the form of his relationship with Lucy). He's interested in the secular world, and craves a home and stability, but the first person to represent that to him also makes some unwanted sexual advances, which make him ashamed and guilty and even more confused.
And all of that doesn't even touch on the ghost story, which ties Roland Earl's wavering feelings about religion into a plotline that deals with True Evil and maybe the Devil and also slavery.
And all of that doesn't touch on the atmospheric spooky stuff, which is, you know, atmospheric and spooky. Or on Roland Earl's characterization, which is fascinating, sympathetic, and believable, and his voice, which is compelling and rhythmic and, to this Mainer's ears, sounded believably Southern. More than anything else, though, it's his sincerity that makes the book. This is my first R.A. Nelson (I know, weird, right?), and I'll definitely be seeking out more.
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*SPOILER, for those who are wondering: Ultimately, all of his questioning results in his belief in God being strengthened, rather than set aside or even slightly weakened—it's just been broadened to include a larger view of What It All Means.
**People always say that, and it's never true.
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Book source: ILLed through my library.