For the past six years or so I’ve been sitting at my keyboard following Boone around, trying to capture his journey as he stumbles into adulthood, and I thought I was telling a coming of age in Appalachia story. Then I realized I was also trying to give voice to the marginalized teens who were ignored unless they said or did something to reinforce their stereotypes. It was a story about the aftermath of abuse as well, of Boone coming to grips with and learning from the relationship he had with his father, trying as hard as he could to lay aside the life lessons his daddy taught him when he realized how poorly they had prepared him for the world beyond his childhood.
As the series drew to a close I came to understand that, like many stories being told these days, it was also, or maybe even primarily, a story about prejudice. Prejudice against class, against region, against race, against disability.
In the early chapters of Pushing Back, Boone certainly knows that prejudice exists, mostly from his position on the receiving end. On a personal level he understands that prejudice is a bad thing. He doesn’t think about the fact that it’s important to take a position against the practice, to take a stand. He was taught from an early age what to do when faced with prejudice. Get mad and resentful, and then look around for some other group to target, to pass along the hate. Indeed, in the beginning Boone is about as far from woke as you can get. Not as far as his father Nathaniel, but certainly not aware in any real sense. His world is so small and insular that the idea of seeing the world in a different way doesn’t even occur to him. So this is not the story of a protagonist who from the start is aware and forward-thinking and compassionate. Instead, as this story unfolds Boone at first reacts out of rage and mistrust. It takes him some time to realize that there are other ways of living in the world, and even when he begins to get it, his upbringing and the example set by his father are very strong influences, and not easily set aside.
I am both pleased and surprised by the fact that this story is, in the end, hopeful. That is not to say that by the end of Finding Home Boone isn’t still pretty rough around the edges. The difference is that he’s more aware, and has both the tools and the desire to use them to continue his journey into adulthood, no longer allowing his past to define him.
The Boone Series is available through the links on my book catalog page, and in ebook format from Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Kobo, and GooglePlay. Union Avenue Books and Phoenix Pharmacy in downtown Knoxville carry the series, and if your local bookstore doesn’t have it on their shelves, they’ll be glad to order it for you.