Kinfolk
Living in the fictional town of Park, Alabama, in 1972, sixty-something absentee father, Nub, has been perpetually drunk since his father’s suicide in 1921. He’s annoying and no one likes him, but if there is one generous truth, it’s that he’s ‘heart-stoppingly sincere’, has no tolerance for meanness, and will defend the vulnerable with everything he’s got. Sitting in an idling truck outside his daughter’s house on Thanksgiving is the closest he can come to celebrating with her. A car chase with the local deputy ends in a collision with Park’s water tower that he and cousin Benny have, ironically, almost finished painting.
At six-foot-five, fifteen-year-old Minnie passes for nineteen, is a target for persecution simply because she’s different, dirt poor, and happens to be pregnant by her most determined tormentor. When she’s informed that her mom has committed suicide, she passes out, hits her head, and is transported to hospital. Her self-soothing crooning irritates the old man in the next bed, who is trying to sleep after smashing up both his truck and his inebriated body. As Dietrich works his magic on random encounters, this becomes the axis around which the young mother-to-be’s destiny plays out.
Dietrich’s latest gem combines his trademark wit and compassion. Using short, unadorned sentences, there is a timeless universality to the way in which he conjures ordinary people scarred by hardscrabble lives. His prose has a familiarity and gentle reverence for his cast members, allowing each their moment in the sun. Minnie’s artistic coming-of-age is profound and uplifting, while Nub’s life-changing decision puts him back in touch with his feelings and those of everyone around him. Reminiscent of his previous novels, and skillfully date-stamped in the early Seventies, Dietrich’s keen observations of his native Alabama underscore a natural love of life-affirming storytelling.
