Boy From the North Country

As a teenager growing up in Goshen, NY, Evan Klausner couldn’t wait to leave. He looked around at the mountains and serene farmland of his little town and knew deep inside that there was a whole world out there waiting to be discovered. After transferring to Oxford to study literature he began to travel the world only coming home occasionally to visit his mother June. He admired his holistic mother who helped people manage their health in the most natural, spiritual way she knew how. She grew gorgeous vegetables and at this point in her life led a quiet existence of yoga and art and peace. Mostly Evan came back out of obligation and this visit was no different. June requested he return because she was sick and needed his help to get through a surgery. Evan quickly learned that the cancer was much worse than she described and had progressed quickly. As Evan lovingly takes care of his mother we get a glimpse of her past and he learns of the circumstances that surrounded the choices she made throughout his young life - the father figures that never stuck around, a doting grandmother with a dark past, the possibility that Bob Dylan was his biological father. This starts out incredibly strong with vivid descriptions of nature, art and literature. Unfortunately, the story loses steam in the final third, with hollow descriptions that circle the truth without ever delivering the closure I had hoped for. I’m on the fence with this one, folks—I liked it, just not as much as I expected. ⭐⭐⭐