David Rhodes (1) (1946–2022)

PAINTING BEYOND WALLS (2022) is the final installment of David Rhodes' fiction trilogy set in the very real Driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin. DRIFTLESS (2008) introduced the large cast of characters, all inhabitants of the tiny town of Words. JEWELWEED (2013) continued their stories, and PBW takes us into a near future 2027 setting, with a thirty-ish August Helm, returning jobless to his parents' home in Words after his research project in a Chicago lab is abruptly defunded, because he inadvertently caught his boss engaged in an illicit affair with an ambitious subordinate. August has a Ph.D. in some obscure branch of science and has not been home much in the past dozen or so years. He finds the area much changed, with a new development for the ultra-rich called Forest Gate plunked right in the middle of the once remote wilderness near Words. He takes a job as a housesitter for April, a mysterious, beautiful resident of the Gate, and quickly becomes deeply involved with her, at the same time reconnecting with his childhood friends, Ivan and Hanh, as well as other, older friends, who have never left Words. As a scientist, August has learned that sex, and sexual attraction, are the most powerful forces in all of life. He agrees, for example, that -

"... many team sports, like football, were modeled after, and drew metaphorical strength from, a single sperm cell running a fallopian gauntlet, making it into the end zone, and scoring."

And "most novels ... reinforced the happy illusion that we make conscious decisions independently from biological dictates."

One thing I had a little trouble with in this closing volume of the DRIFTLESS trilogy was that, although August is the only character with the advanced degrees, they all talk like scientist-philosophers, in a kind of pseudo-Freudian tongue. But, strangely enough, it works! It sucked me in and kept me reading, reading and reading some more. But it's not all science, of course. There is also some offstage, flashback violence - rape and murder and corporate coverups.

This is simply a helluva good book, compelling and thought-provoking, and peopled with fascinating characters. Rhodes believed all his characters were important, and gave vibrant life to every one. All three books are equally good. Sadly, David Rhodes died not long after completing this last one. My highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (mere)

David Rhodes is one of the better authors writing about the upper midwest. 'Painting Beyond Walls' may end up being his last novel.

The first 47 pages focus on a love affair between two selfish and ego-driven twenty-somethings who have little in common beyond sex. When Rhodes's lead character August, a post-doc research biochemist, encounters his supervisor in a compromising position with an undergrad, he is fired from the grant project and simultaneously loses his sex partner -- which is fine. While this section is only slightly more than 11% of the novel and is boring and trite, I believe Rhodes want it to show how much many people lead boring, greedy (recognition, wealth), unfulfilling, and largely transactional lives. For August, recovery comes through escape to family and friends in the Driftless Area of southwest Wisconsin, a convenient 3-hour drive from the University of Chicago.

And that's where the really novel begins. There's a lot of didactic narrative on cell biochemistry, intercellular biochemical communication, sexual attraction and reproduction, Wolbachia parasites, caste structure, and other topics -- some of which provide background for the story, some of which explains characters, and some of which seem to be concerns for Rhodes and are interesting, but largely have little to do with the arc of the story. There are many references to previous Rhodes novels, in particular 'Jewelweed,' and previous characters, especially July Montgomery ('Driftless,' 'Rock Island Line,' and 'Easter House') -- but you don't need to read those first. But the heart of the novel is August's relationships with Ivan (his best friends growing up), Lester (a friend of August's parents and a rural philosopher), Hans (a Vietnamese orphan rescued by Lester who becomes his caretaker and an early romantic attraction for August and current romantic attraction for Ivan), and April (extremely wealthy young woman living in a nearby gated community and becomes August's new desire). It is the exploration of those relationship, woven through time and memory and, at least with April, being opened, that form the bulk of the novel. In the end, the novel is extremely optimistic and hopeful.

I liked this novel a lot, which does not mean I was not frustrated now and then, and recommend it. But then, I've enjoyed everything David Rhodes has written -- and hope he has time and energy to publish again.… (mere)

The sequel to David Rhodes's DRIFTLESS, an absorbing account of ordinary lives in the tiny rural community of Words, Wisconsin, JEWELWEED, set a dozen years later, is every bit as good, with many of the same characters and some new ones too. Pastor Winifred experiences a crisis of faith. Fix-it man Jacob Helm offers a second chance to an impulsive ex-con, who seeks to reconnect with a former lover. Two aging cousins tentatively test their long-buried feelings for each other. Two boys befriend another boy with a life-threatening illness, and the three attempt to solve the mystery of "the Wild Boy" who lives a shadowy existence on the fringes of the forest. All of these separate threads and more gradually come together in the gentle, leisurely - and very literary - fashion that is Rhodes's trademark style. I enjoyed the hell out of this book - BOTH books. Now on to the final book in this homely, but absolutely fascinating trilogy. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the REED CITY BOY trilogy… (mere)

DRIFTLESS (2008) is a book I absolutely loved and didn't want it to end. And at four hundred-plus small-ish print pages, it almost didn't. With its unique, and mostly likable, cast of small town characters, it has been compared to Sherwood Anderson's WINESBURG, OHIO and Edgar Lee Masters' SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY, both very apt comparisons, albeit with some modern twists. But David Rhodes does for the Driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin what Willa Cather did for frontier Nebraska, or, closer to home, what Aldo Leopold did for the Dells in his SAND COUNTY ALMANAC, with a touch of Mayberry in the mix. There is nothing I enjoy more than a character-driven novel, and the denizens of Words, Wisconsin are a pure pleasure to meet and get to know, from the mysterious farmer, July Montgomery, to Pastor Winifred Smith of the Words Friends of Jesus Church, to the repair shop proprietor, Jacob Helm, to dairy farmers Grahm and Cora Shotwell (up against big business and government). And there is paroled petty criminal Wade Armbuster, who falls for the crippled spinster, Olivia, picking her up off the ground in a casino parking lot and taking her on a wild and hilarious night ride through the countryside, first chasing her purse snatchers, then fleeing the police. (And later he takes her to a dog fight, followed by another wild ride.) And there is Rusty Smith, a retiree who learns to respect and trust his Amish neighbors who come to work on his house repairs. And Moe Ridge, a survivalist who is training a secret militia in a forest encampment. And on and on, until all these separate story threads are woven together, sometimes in the most surprising ways.

There are perhaps a dozen or more fascinating folks that populate this story of a tiny rural community, and David Rhodes makes sure you come to know them all intimately. There is comedy here and there is also tragedy. This is storytelling at its very best. My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER… (mere)