James Allen Mitchell

I received an early reviewer copy of this book from LibraryThing, and was so excited to read it, as Okie: A Family Saga has an intriguing premise, and I have a lot of extended family in Oklahoma, so I was hoping to feel a kinship to the characters. That feeling ended within the first few minutes of reading.

One thing I don’t like about novels is when you start reading without other reviews it’s hard to gauge if there are any language or themes that certain readers might find disturbing. From the beginning I could tell this was going to be a book that triggered me, and sadly I was correct. Crude descriptions of molestation, obscene language, and alcohol use are among of the few things that were triggering to me personally and I constantly found myself wondering if I should just give up and put the book down, but I didn’t.

I did feel for Jimmy and his sad existence, and cannot imagine having parents like he had, or being raised the way he was. Honestly I only kept reading to see what happened to him. I will say the ending was justified and disgustingly satisfying, retribution paid in blood, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved to be done with this book.

The writing is rudimentary, though I believe that is the intent, as it is written from the perspective of an adolescent, and the author does a great job of tying your heartstrings to this little boy who didn’t ask to be in the situation he’s in. I also felt so bad for his mother and her upbringing, that part of the story triggering me the most. I couldn’t get it off my mind even after I finished reading, I was that disturbed, and have waited months to write this review because I honestly have the most mixed feelings about this book.

If I could sum up Okie: A Family Saga in one word it would be depressing. It is one of those stories that sticks with you, but not in a good way, and I can’t honestly say whether I can or cannot recommend reading it. For those that decide to attempt it I will say this: proceed with caution.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I read through Kindle Unlimited. All views and opinions are completely honest, and my own.… (altro)

Although Okie begins in the 1950s from the point of view of Jimmy Boy, the son of abusive Fast Eddie and his mother Betty Mae, the true protagonist is Betty Mae Chandler In an interesting twist, this book is really two books in one: This small, contemporary, Oklahoma City family and the adventures of Betty Mae's grandparents, true Dust-Bowl-escapee Okies.

After the first chapter, which is a look-forward at the family, the story begins with Fast Eddie Mitchell's proposal of marriage to Betty Mae which she accepts. It's not long before we learn of Betty Mae's existence as a young girl with her incestuous father, Red, and her momma Truelove. Red regularly 'poked Betty Mae doggie style' while Truelove knew but ignored.

Fast Eddie was recently discharged from the Air Force but, because of his nature, could not hold a job so it was left up to Betty Mae to provide for the family with a job in a local bowling alley. However, Fast Eddie did finally get a job as a traveling insurance salesman. Apparently he did earn some money but it went into things for his own pleasure, such as a fancy car rather than support of his family.

Meanwhile Jimmy Boy occupied is time by imagining himself a New York Yankees baseball player. Also, he was showing some talent as a writer.

Fast Eddie, now away from home and on the road five days a week, was satisfying his sexual desires in the section of Oklahoma City where the "darkies" lived. "There's something to black booty...that makes my pee-pee twitch" he said. In the ultimate of irony, when Fast Eddie came home in a drunken rage on the weekends he accused Betty Mae of the same thing he was doing himself and would beat her unconscious. She did, indeed, have an affair with a Mr. Johnson but it didn't last long.

Fast Eddie was fired from his insurance job and went unemployed for several months. Betty Mae was having trouble with her feet because of her stand-up jobs lasting 12-14 hours per day. One day their house was foreclosed. They had nowhere to go so they decided to go to California to live with Betty Mae's Aunt Myrtle.

From the time of the foreclosure an unlikely thing happens, as far as this reader is concerned: Fast Eddie suddenly becomes a devoted and loving father. Yes, he never touches his wife or son again.

Then, in Chapter 21, "Part Two, Dust Bowlers" the second book begins in true genealogical fashion starting with "Kent County, England, 1889" and young James Chandler, Betty Mae's great-great grandfather[1], and his wife Sarah. In that year they see a handbill

1889 Oklahoma Land Rush
For all able-bodied homesteaders
Come claim your own parcel of land
Free of charge
Compliments of the U.S. Government[2]

They came to New York City and took a train to Oklahoma where they participated in the "Oklahoma Land Rush" another of the great tragedies to befall the Native Americans who were uprooted from their government-guaranteed reservations to be pushed to land further west. Somehow James was the smartest guy in the land rush and found a plot of land near Dry Gulch Creek, a private source of water, a luxury that few of the opportunists could enjoy. Not only that, James hired a water witch who found a great underground source of water right under their property for an embarrassment of riches in dusty Oklahoma.

Bountiful years followed for James and Sarah. After they passed, Pappy, James' son, and his wife Mema, Betty Mae's grandfather and grandmother, took over and kept the money flowing in until a "triple whammy" befell Americans: World War I, a severe drought, and the Great Depression. All of this drove down grain prices. In response, the homesteaders began to plow more and more ground upsetting the million-year natural balance of short grass versus the constant high winds on the Great Plains. When enough of the grass was turned under, the catastrophe of the Dust Bowl began in about 1932.

Pappy and Mema and their son Jasper took the somewhat mythical Route 66 west to California while their son, Red, daughter-in-law Truelove, and their granddaughter Betty Mae stayed to ride out the dust storms. What follows is a story of the trials and tribulations of the Okies and Arkies traveling west in their jalopies, few of which could make the full journey.

In the Bakersfield-Barstow area the Chicano grape-pickers were organizing for a strike so Pappy, Jasper, and Mema were hired as strike breakers. The conditions for the unwanted Okies in California were atrocious. They were housed in "agricultural camps" with shanties made of corrugated tin with dirt floors and no running water. They were, in essence, indentured servants with wages so low they could never escape this hellscape.

Then the growers hired the Chicanos back and the State of California placed more stringent rules governing relief aid so the Okies had nowhere to go except back whence they came. One night in a police raid Mema was drowned in a nearby canal and Pappy perished trying to save her. With nothing left, Jasper returned to Oklahoma with the terrible news.

Jasper helped on Red's farm but soon grew tired of that and moved into Oklahoma City to become a city boy. Red's abuse of his daughter became so bad the Truelove finally impaled him on a pitchfork. Her daughter was saved but she was committed to a mental institution for the rest of her life. Betty Mae was taken in by her uncle Jasper in Oklahoma City.

Now back to book number one or possibly book number three, "Part Three, Californians". Fast Eddie, Betty Mae, and Jimmy settled in with Aunt Myrtle who lived in Orange County. Jimmy enrolled in school and soon won a prize for creative writing. Fast Eddie lolled around without a job for several months (apparently not cheating on his wife the whole time), and Betty Mae began to like her new surroundings.

In somewhat of a far-fetched situation, Fast Eddie became a Hollywood stuntman (with no experience) and the money poured in. He bought them a small home and Betty Mae started a garden in its front yard. Soon the uppity California neighbors began to torment Betty Mae even going so far as to organize ambush meetings where they excoriated her. Nonetheless, Fast Eddie, Aunt Myrtle, and Jimmy did not believe her stories of torment. Betty Mae went into a slow mental decline.

In another unlikely situation, Fast Eddie and Jimmy became buddies and moved out of the house to leave Betty Mae with her depression and wretchedness all alone. Jimmy was so devoted to his father that he wrote a screenplay with his father as hero. However, when Jimmy had a sexual encounter with his father's favorite lay, Rosalie, they grew further and further apart.

Spoiler alert! Jimmy intended to go back to live with his mother. As he entered the house he discovered that she had taken her own life by hanging. It is a somewhat telegraphed and melodramatic episode.

Fast Eddie returned to Oklahoma, Jimmy followed...and, no more spoilers.

Some corrections:
plug nickel for plumb nickel
'mac and cheese' is not a saying of the 1950s
glowing embers for shards
wolf down for wolf back
tract home for track home
past for passed

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[1] Error, James would be Betty Mae's great grandfather
[2] The Homestead Act of 1862… (altro)