Driest Season, The

THE DRIEST SEASON

by Meghan Kenny

 

Nomination: PEN/Hemingway Longlist 2019

 

Date Read: January 29, 2022

 

In a quiet and rural Boaz, Wisconsin, fifteen year old Cielle Jacobson is searching for answers as to why her father committed suicide. The adults around her are either lying about the cause or covering up the extent of her father’s despair. Lee clearly suffered from chronic and debilitating migraines and a clear case of depression. During this time of drought and WWII, depression was not a topic commonly talked about and depression medication had yet to be invented. For me, it seemed no wonder he wanted to die.

 

Only days after burying him, a tornado rips through their tiny town and flattens their barn. The financial future is uncertain as their farm was still under contract from the Olsen family up the street. Their long-term neighbor and closest friends, the Mitchell’s son is heading off to war. Too much is changing in too short a time. The world refuses to sit still for one moment while Cielle catches her breath and can take in all the loss that has mounted up in less than a month.

 

Kenny’s writing is intense and quiet, feeling Cielle’s grief as those around her seem to effortlessly move on, feeling the sere and dusty grit of the drought-ridden farm, sensing the angst of all the teenagers to experience something beyond their isolated farms, and basking in the generosity of neighbors and friends as the Amish inundate their farm for a barn-raising.

 

I truly enjoyed this brief, yet potent novel. I found myself envying everyone’s sense of duty and purpose, the intimacy of knowing nearly everyone in your town and being certain of your obligations in this world. As a city-dweller adrift in mid-life, this novel made me yearn for the heartland even if I know in my bones I would find it stifling.

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