This novel is based on a true story of divorce and kidnapping occurring in Ohio in 1964. Unlike most divorce cases, it is the woman, Lesley, who loses legal custody of her children. While her husband, John Burke, is away on a business trip, she packs up her aging Plymouth station wagon and embarks on a fugitive cross-country trek with her four children. Thus on one level the work is a road novel of crossing America in the innocence of the mid-â60s. When their station wagon breaks down in Wyoming, Lesley and her children live camped on the banks of a remote mountain river, befriended by National Forest rangers, until they move into Jackson for the winter. Eventually the father locates the children in Jackson and re-kidnaps them back to Ohio where a final showdown takes place for the allegiance of the oldest son.
This struggle for the loyalty of the thirteen year old son, Thomas, lies at the centre of the novel, told in journal form with later older comments.Through this multiple perspective, the reader follows the shifting loyalties of all three Thomases as they attempt to untangle this violent familial confrontation.
This novel is based on a true story of divorce and kidnapping occurring in Ohio in 1964. Unlike most divorce cases, it is the woman, Lesley, who loses legal custody of her children. While her husband, John Burke, is away on a business trip, she packs up her aging Plymouth station wagon and embarks on a fugitive cross-country trek with her four children. Thus on one level the work is a road novel of crossing America in the innocence of the mid-â60s. When their station wagon breaks down in Wyoming, Lesley and her children live camped on the banks of a remote mountain river, befriended by National Forest rangers, until they move into Jackson for the winter. Eventually the father locates the children in Jackson and re-kidnaps them back to Ohio where a final showdown takes place for the allegiance of the oldest son.
This struggle for the loyalty of the thirteen year old son, Thomas, lies at the centre of the novel, told in journal form with later older comments.Through this multiple perspective, the reader follows the shifting loyalties of all three Thomases as they attempt to untangle this violent familial confrontation.
Sunday, March 8, 1964
I heard the âtermitesâ in the basement again on the weekend. I was working on a model in the rec room when they started chirping again. The house was very quiet for a Saturday because my brothers and sister were all playing over at the neighborâs house. So I could hear them real good, like a scratching noise.
I was just starting to try to find out where exactly it was coming from when Dad came down stairs.
âDad, what do termites sound like?â ÂÂ
âWhat do you mean?â
âDonât you hear that sound? I think we have termites in the walls.â Then we were both quiet listening.
âOh, yeah,â he said, licking his lips quickly. âI know what...You had me worried there. Thatâs not termites. Just forget about it, son.â
âBut what is it?â
He got that funny little smile of his on his face, cocked his head to the side and whispered. âThis will just be our little secret, Tom. And we wonât tell anyone about it, especially not Mom. Sheâll just worry about it. You wouldnât want to worry your mother.â
âGee, no, Dad.â
âGood, thatâs my son.â He put his arm around my shoulders as he led me upstairs.
It wasnât until later that night I figured out he hadnât given me any secret to keep!
So today after school Iâm back in the basement listening for those termites. Luckily the little kids are all upstairs in their bedrooms playing, so I can hear good. Dadâs not around, just Mom. I donât have to wait too long.
The termites are back and Iâm looking everywhere for them. Finally I pull up the sofa cover and look underneath the old sofa and find it. Itâs that machine from Dadâs office. You talk into a microphone and it makes a little plastic record of your voice. Itâs supposed to be for a secretary to use but he doesnât have one. He let us use it once to record part of the sound of the Wizard of Oz off the TV. Now the little record is going around and around and the scratchy noises are voices coming from the needle.
I move in to look at it closer. Suddenly it stops and I freeze! Did I do something? Dadâll have my hide if I broke it.
You can hear a pin drop. The only sound is Mom walking around in her bedroom. I hear her footsteps move away and then back to the phone in her room. Suddenly the machine comes on again! Thereâs a clicking noise, like dialling a phone. I hear Momâs loud voice coming through the floor. Then I hear a scratchy version of her voice coming from the machine. If I lean close to the machine, I can hear the words.
Mom says: âI canât wait till Friday. Iâll see you tonight.â
A manâs voice says: âBut Lesley, I told you...â
Mom says: âTonight! The same place and youâd better be there, buddy-boy!â
She slams the phone down and the machine stops. Then I hear her footsteps coming out of the bedroom. I drop the sofa cover quick. All I can think is sheâd better not see me by this machine. I check the sofa one last time before she calls down to me from the kitchen.
âAre you down there, Tom?â
âYeah, Mom, just reading.â
âYou come up here and watch the kids now. Iâve got to go out.â I take one last look at the sofa. I havenât changed anything.
In green ink, Summer of 1973
So it was, dear Theresa, the opening shot in the war between my parents. My fatherâs original crime. Can you believe it! Spying on your own family! The James Bond complex carried to an illogical extreme. He must have had a confederate... Now I know why he courted the friendship of that nerd electrician he met working for Motorola. He used to take us to his super high-technology house in Worthington. The nerd had the whole house wired to his âEagles Nestâ attic where he sat up late playing the 1812 Overture on a monster tape deck with eight speakers or else listening through hidden microphones scattered through the house to the rest of his family. The original George Burns. And Dad was his willing apprentice. âSay man, can you help me bug my wife?â
Imagine them creeping into the house while the little womanâs out. Iago and Othello (whoâs who?) going to the basement to catch Desdemona in the act. Rigging it up, bugging the house, the original White House Plumbers. Now weâll get her!      Â
In blue ink, 1978
Interesting question, was he motivated by jealousy?
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Set in the middle of the 1960s, we follow thirteen-year-old Thomas' personal diary where he jotted down the events leading up to and following his parents' divorce. John claims the mother of his children is crazy. Lesley insists she has been wrongfully accused by both John and the court. Being the oldest of the four children, Thomas is caught in the middle, often unsure of who's really got his best interest at heart.
Lesley decides to take matters into her own hands after the ruling. She packs up the kids and sets out west unbeknownst to John. Thomas is enamored with their travels at first, seeing this as an adventure. However, as time goes on, the trials of living life on the road start to hit him as well as his two brothers and sister. With the help of some new friends, they eventually settle in Wyoming. Just as they start to adapt to their new lives, John shows up to bring his children home.
Though angry at first, Thomas soon realizes he feels safer with his father. He and his siblings are no longer the targets of their mother's temper, they have beds and a clean house, and many other basic necessities that had slowly been weaned out of their lives on the road. So when Lesley shows up in Ohio once again, he is at a loss. Whose side should he take?
The book is an engaging, easy read with a mix of perspectives as Thomas is revisiting the diary years later. His thoughts are written in green and blue ink along with the years the notes were taken. His perception of that time in his life ebbs and flows with age. The ink took some getting used to. The colors are harsh on the eyes for longer sections, but the margins are clear which is the important thing.
Readers of YA will enjoy this the most. Thomas' youthful voice comes across clearly. It's also a good work of historical fiction with quite a few mentions of the politics of the time, namely presidents and elections. There were some moments that dragged on as well as several repetitive passages, however, in light of the journal structure and age of the protagonist, it ultimately works if that's something you like. I think I would have enjoyed it more with an alternate POV. With everything limited to Thomas' perspective, many things were left ambiguous where they could otherwise have gone deeper. Still, it's worth the read, especially where it's based on a true story.
(Trigger warnings: divorce, kidnapping, child abuse, toxic relationship)