Montana 1948

Twelve-year-old David Hayden learns terrible secrets about his family during the summer of 1948, and as the secrets come to light and are dealt with, he comes to see the people in his family in new ways.

This is a powerful coming-of-age story set in Montana in the postwar period. We see people rise to do the right thing; we see people fall, doing the wrong thing. And whether people do the right or the wrong thing, we see how difficult it is to make a decision at all, and we see the consequences of the decisions made reverberating throughout an entire family, an entire community.

A quick, easy read. Liked both David and his father as characters and felt they were the most well drawn in the book. Some of the other though - particularly the grandfather - were more caricature. The story was simplistic which fit with the idea of a 12 year old being the narrator but it never became anything more than that to me. Instead of being drawn in, I felt like I was watching all the events through the window in the Hayden family living room.