Out of the Dust

I expected this to be a general look at life in a specific time and place (Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s) in the same vein as “All of a Kind Family”, which detailed Jewish life in the Lower East Side during the early 1900s. That is to say, a book of nice characters and small events rather than one story arc that builds, climaxes, and resolves.

That is not this book.

This book tells the story of two years in the life of Billy Jo, written as diary entries and reading like poems. A bit into the book there's an unexpected turn of events that quickly builds the story of this book, hooking me and leaving me breathless through to the last pages. I highly, highly recommend this book.