Waggles

Waggles – short summary for e-book

“Waggles" is a Depression-era coming-of-age story set in dust bowl Nebraska, told by the award-winning author, 83, who was there. He shares his saga of life on his grandmother's farm in the 1930s, the gritty daily stench and grind of a poor widow’s farm, the awe and power of the seasons as seen through the wondering eyes of a rural boy, who survives through the love of his dog, Waggles.

From his smothering mother who expects young Grant to fill his dead father's shoes, to the brutal older boys who force him to confront the violent yet sensual nature of farm life, and the stolid salt-of-the-earth grandmother who steals the story, we are carried through a gripping tale that is equal parts terror, lush period detail, pathos and hilarity. In the end we learn what it means to be a young man shaped by a desperate time. Most readers in Recession-age America can relate. And gain inspiration.

“Waggles,” 56,000 words, contrasts sharply with other Depression memoirs. It reads more like “Angela’s Ashes” than “Little Heathens.” The Depression is realistically portrayed: foreclosure phobia, blizzards, tornadoes, hand-made tombstones, the madness of poverty. It is not a paean to sentimentality.

(Most of the book’s chapters have been individually published in literary journals.)