Bedrock Faith

October 21, 2013
May’s expansive first novel reveals the complicated emotional economy that holds together a neighborhood in crisis. When Gerald “Stew Pot” Reeves returns home after spending most of his adult life in prison for assault, his old neighbors are dismayed: in the quiet Chicago suburb of Parkland, Stew Pot was an unrepentant troublemaker who even burned down sweet Mrs. Motley’s garage next door. Then Stew Pot shows up at Mrs. Motley’s door asking for a Bible, and she urges the neighborhood association to give him a second shot. But Stew Pot’s newfound contrition comes at a price: as he joins community life again, he begins to judge his neighbors for their bad behavior, interrupting them on dates and authoring a newsletter called “The Burning Bush” that warns them of sin. Feeling bullied in their own homes, residents of Parkland decide to strike back. May’s vivid descriptions of the rhythms of life in the suburb, whose tight-knit middle-class families are unwilling to face a problem that can’t be solved by law, contrast with the largely unexplained motives of Stew Pot, who swings from harmless pest to violent menace. Yet, portrayed from a variety of perspectives that reveal vibrant lives in ordinary houses, Parkland is just as captivating when its most troubled son is not in the picture, as decades-old grudges and feuds come to light.