Book Review 2022-001 - Chevy in the Hole by Kelsey Ronan

Book Review 2022-001

Chevy in the Hole by Kelsey Ronan

309 pages (the galley), 2022 via Henry Holt

(this copy was an ARC sent to me by Henry Holt)

 

This debut novel hooked me right away:  "Had August Molly not returned from the dead that morning in Detroit, the Molloy family line would have ended in the bathroom of a farm-to-table restaurant in the middle of lunch service." We learn that this isn't August's (Gus's) first time dealing with opioid issues. In fact, part of the reason he's in Detroit is that he hoped that putting some 60 or so miles between him and his hometown of Flint would help him put that lifestyle behind him. Instead, he ends up being brought back to Flint by his sister to clean himself up (not the first time she's taken on that mantle). One starts to root for Gus right away.

My early impression of the novel, one that hasn't changed after a second read some months after the first read, was that Kelsey Ronan had put together a couple of love stories. When Gus gets a bit more stable in Flint, he begins to work at Frontier Farms where he meets a woman five years younger than him, Monae. He's into the idea of them as a couple before she is, but she eventually comes around. This is in 2014. The book ends in 2022 and through those years we witness both the story of their relationship with its ups and downs, as well as a story of Flint from 1937 on, using relatives of both Gus and Monae to wander through some major events in the city's history. These include the GM Strike, WWII, the revolution of 1967, Keith Moon driving a car into a hotel pool, and on up through the Flint water crisis. And Ronan's fondness for the city shines through, while still acknowledging that the city has had issues through the years.

Ronan's attention to detail moves through the book--I wasn't aware of many of the historical incidents she placed family members but there was enough meat on the bone of Ronan's versions for me to get a handle on what was going on. More importantly, she made it clear how these events, or at least being around during their occurances, affected the different family members through the years. Ronan also makes sure, though subtly, to take a look at both race (Gus is white and Monae is black) and class (Gus's family tended to struggle, while Monae's family members were going to college and being city councilmembers). 

What Ronan really nails through this bouncing through history using the two families (if I had a quibble, it would be that it would have been great to have a family tree going back into both families included) is capturing relationships, how we interact, what we need--from ourselves and others--, how we fuck up, and how municipalities can have some of those same actions and she does so with as few false steps as possible. A great debut.