The Death of Tarpons

Set on the Texas Gulf Coast, mostly during the summer of 1955, Edgerton's first novel shines with wisdom. Corey John, now in his mid-40s, revisits the scene of that momentous season when, as a frightened 14-year-old, he desperately tried to win the love and approval of his abusive father, Robert. A former WW II pilot, workaholic Robert is frustrated by his wife, Mary, who's pious and sexually unresponsive, and by his having been lured to Texas a few years back by his mother-in-law's vague and still unfulfilled promise of a partnership in her restaurant business. Robert vents his anger by beating Corey. He also schemes to have Mary committed to a mental hospital. The boy's only refuge is his kind Grandpa, who, though dying of lung cancer, takes him fishing for tarpon and helps him to see that Robert is incapable of giving love. It's inspirational to watch Corey summon the courage to stand up to his father, as a teen and also in the present as he relives traumatic episodes and meditates on how he will raise his own son. (Mar.)