Watching Gideon

In his agreeable if unoriginal second novel, Foreman tells a tale of postwar optimism and determination steeped in the great American traditions of westward expansion and manifest destiny. In 1953, Jubal Pickett, a WWII navy vet, and his mute son, Gideon, leave their farm in Natchez, Miss., and head to Edom, Utah, hoping to strike it rich on uranium. During a stop in Port Arthur, Tex., they pick up Abilene Breedlove, a seductive social climber always on the lookout for a new man. Once in Edom, the intrepid party secures a title to prospect some land with the help of a couple of local power players. But with Jubal and Gideon searching for riches in the badlands and Abilene left to her own devices in town, trouble starts brewing. The linguistic and cultural details richly bring the era and region to life, but in the end, this feels like a coat of fresh paint over too familiar characters and a ready-made story line. (Nov.)