Jackson\u2019s Pond<\/em> left off, extending the story of the Jackson family into the 2010s and the next generations, starring Claire\u2019s immediate family: husband J. D., thirteen-year-old daughter Amy, and ten-year-old son Jay Frank. They are confronted with the same concerns of drought and steadily disappearing townships, but they also face the nation\u2019s scourge of drug problems, crime, and mental despair, as well as additional, intimate issues with their young children, including bullying and peer pressure. Claire\u2019s brother, Chris, and grandmother, Willa, play supporting roles. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Slanted Light <\/span><\/span><\/em>can stand alone as a complete story, but it benefits the reader to begin with Jackson\u2019s Pond<\/em> so that the action and characters can be placed in time and context; the reading experience will be richer for it. One of the strengths of Jones\u2019s work is the provision of backstory, which serves as backstop for the actions and reactions of her characters; Jones\u2019s people are never out of character, and their motivations are steeped in personal past. At the center of Slanted Light <\/em>is Claire and J. D.\u2019s marriage\u2014whether it will survive the stressors\u2014and the effects of \u201cnegligent supervision\u201d on Amy, who is hip-deep in puberty (\u201cJekyll and Hyde days\u201d), and Jay Frank, for whom \u201chormones haven\u2019t struck [and] parents are still sources of useful information and important rewards.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Jones has a gift for droll humor (\u201cWilla Jackson had weathered plenty of abrupt changes and had provoked a few in her time.\u201d), pitch-perfect endings, and smart dialogue:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nMelanie: And what about preparations? Isn\u2019t a passport necessary? And immunizations? What if you got sick or had an accident?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Willa: It\u2019s a cruise with a thousand other passengers, not the Lewis and Clark expedition.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n
Sometimes the dialogue is painfully familiar:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nJ. D.: I\u2019m asking you to take some time out of your busy schedule and act like you give a shit, for once. The [bull] sale\u2019s not for three more weeks.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Claire: You don\u2019t need a wife, you need a secretary. I suggest you hire one. Maybe a maid and a housekeeper, too.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
J. D.: You\u2019re right. If I did, I wouldn\u2019t need a wife.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n
Ouch.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Mysteries spice both novels in well-integrated subplots. Jones also has a few twists lying in wait, expertly teased then nonchalantly slipped into the quick and steadily paced narrative. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Texas\u2019s High Plains are alive on the pages of both novels, playing a starring role as a character central to the plot. Jones\u2019s evocation of the land clearly reflects her love of place. She tackles irrigation, aquifers, and wind turbines, among other things, with just the right amount of context. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The fate of small towns, with defunct chambers of commerce and certain ubiquitous dollar stores starving out the local small businesses, is spot-on. Jones employs an especially effective\u2014even charming\u2014technique of \u201creproducing\u201d fictional newspaper clippings, which she integrates into the text of both novels. This device works as a sort of shorthand of the past, present, and future of these towns, reflecting changes in the social structures, traditions, and businesses, including the sad demise of local newspapers in so many places. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Jones ties the towns to the land with metaphor: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs the years passed and the pond aged and shrank, fewer geese settled there each year. In the pink twilight [Willa] could see the low mesquites that were creeping up from the edge of the Caprock moving steadily to surround Jackson\u2019s Pond.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Jones does not indulge in cheap and easy sentiment or happily ever after, but she has faith in the resilience of the land and its people. She has written two moving and entertaining novels that are both more than the sum of their parts; the saga of the Jackson family is<\/em> the story of the Texas High Plains. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n\u201cDon\u2019t be surprised if things get worse before they get better. But eventually, one way or another, things will get better.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indie review of Teddy Jones’s Jackson family saga<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[877,870,813,830,812,936],"class_list":["post-2201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-literaryfiction","tag-lonestarindiereview","tag-lone-star-literary-life","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-texas-author","tag-texasbook"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}