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‘Four Corners: One Book’ tackles ‘Madewell Brown’
by Joe Foster adewell Brown is the second selection in the “Four
Corners: One Book” community-wide reading group, sponsored,
designed and created by KSUT. Each month a different library and
bookstore around the Four Corners will choose a book that will be
featured on KSUT and throughout the community with author
interviews and community appearances whenever possible. In addition
to the physical world stuff, there will be an online community
devoted to discussion of each book at www.ksut.org. This is a very cool way to get a
lot of folks talking about literature, and a nice way to join a
reading group without having to actually deal with the issues of
joining a reading group. Please check it out. Like many great stories, Rick Collignon’s latest novel,
Madewell Brown, is about a secret. We all have secrets of course:
things that shame us, or that would shame others, secret wishes,
secret memories, hidden desires. These things are secret because we
are afraid of being judged, or punished, or hurting another. Often,
when our secret comes out our fears are made silly and
inconsequential, and we smile and breathe a little lighter. Other
times, our shame and our fears are justified. For some, this fear
or this secret knowledge eats them alive, and they become There are two stories intertwined here: an old man who befriends
a young girl, and another old man who dies, leaving his son with
questions, a rotten old house and an old canvas bag containing,
among other things, a yellowing unsent letter. In Cairo, Ill., the
young woman, Rachael, befriends Obie Poole, a crotchety retired
Negro League baseball player. Over the course of years, Rachael
hears the same old stories about the same old games and same old
baseball players so many times she has them memorized. The name she
hears the most is Madewell Brown, and Obie is convinced that
Rachael is Madewell’s daughter. This insistence, and
Rachael’s friendship with Obie, becomes the focus of her
life.
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There are two stories intertwined here: an old man who befriends
a young girl, and another old man who dies, leaving his son with
questions, a rotten old house and an old canvas bag containing,
among other things, a yellowing unsent letter. In Cairo, Ill., the
young woman, Rachael, befriends Obie Poole, a crotchety retired
Negro League baseball player. Over the course of years, Rachael
hears the same old stories about the same old games and same old
baseball players so many times she has them memorized. The name she
hears the most is Madewell Brown, and Obie is convinced that
Rachael is Madewell’s daughter. This insistence, and
Rachael’s friendship with Obie, becomes the focus of her
life. The old man who dies is Ruffino Trujillo, father of Cipriano and
resident of Guadalupe, N.M. Before he dies, Ruffino tells his son a
story about a black man who came to Guadalupe some 50 years
earlier, when Ruffino was just a boy. Cipriano isn’t sure
what to make of the story, much less the canvas bag he finds in his
father’s shed inscribed with the name Madewell Brown. The bag
contains a hand-carved doll, an old blanket, a faded picture of a
Negro League baseball team and an unsent letter. After some
consideration, Cipriano simply mails the letter he finds in the
bag. The The story of Madewell Brown is great, but what truly makes this
a great book is Collignon’s masterful writing. The dialogue
just sizzles, ringing true and unadorned. You can actually hear
each voice, each one distinct from the other and embroiled in its
own life. The sentences are short and perfect. Collignon’s
writing feels gritty and raw but draws little attention to itself.
You find yourself lost in the sand and the wind in the world
he’s writing about without realizing what he’s done to
get you there. Skillfully drawing each portion of the story into
the daylight, Madewell Brown leads us into the desert to a moment
that forever changed the lives of everybody in the book. Perfectly
and beautifully done, each moment screams of authenticity. Madewell Brown is Rick Collignon’s fourth novel about the
small northern New Mexico village of Guadalupe. The previous three
– The Journal of Antonio Montoya, Perdido and A Santo in the
Image of Cristobal Garcia – will all be re-released over the
next year or so, but this one, Madewell Brown, stands strong on its
own. Collignon is slowly becoming known as one of the great writers
of the West. His stunningly original voice and vision are enough to
set him apart, but his skills as a wordsmith and craftsman are what
hold him above the rest. A truly unique novel, Madewell Brown is
worth checking out. •
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