Manhattanites, of course, are not really so parochial. Few are likely to think that the inhabitants of so-called flyover country actually are knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. On the other hand, a good many of them - and a good many others not confined to Manhattan - might well agree with a presidential candidate who once said of small-town residents in general that "it's not surprising . . . that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."
This view is in large measure shared by the title character of a novel called Waiting for Zoë (Roberts & Ross Publishing) by retired businessman James R. Ament. Zoë tells her boss - the editor of a paper in a small Wyoming town - that "it seems people here live in this gorgeous flyover country and don't care about anything that matters in the world . . . my world view just doesn't connect with anybody I've met."
I came to know about Ament's novel through my blog, Books, Inq. - The Epilogue, which I started when I was The Inquirer's books editor and have continued since retiring four years ago. I sometimes link to items Ament posts on his blog, and when I learned he had published a novel, I was curious to see what it was like.
It turned out to be a rather engaging read. The story is about two people - Zoë Valiente, a journalism student at Columbia, and Russ Mack, a businessman who has decided to retire early after the untimely deaths of his wife and daughter - and how their lives eventually intersect.
Like many a first novel, it has its shortcomings - the misfortunes that befall Russ and Zoë are a little too patly parallel, and Cody, the Forest Service guy Zoë falls for, is too uncomplicatedly nice.
