First Reading Response

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Spanish Fly by Will Ferguson

The protagonist in this novel, Jack McGreary, quickly caught my attention and pulled me in with his interesting character. A young man growing up during the times of the American Dust bowl, Jack has had to face several hardships.

Despite his many setbacks, what strikes me interesting about his sense of character is his intelligence, and his knack for keeping it quiet. On paper, Jack McGreary is not the most "book-smart", but the way he goes about dealing with problems is intriguing. At this point in young Jack's life, he does not have the best role model to teach him and mentor him through life's dilemmas. He turns to his town's public library where he learns "The Art of Love" from the great philosopher Ovid, and about the less civil art of gambling. He may not be the smartest person, but when he has an opinion, he speaks with a great wisdom and brilliance that never stops captivating me as a reader. His insight into philosophical pondering and moralities grabbed me from the get-go. He has a natural ability to spin any of the other character's points of views so that they somehow end up agreeing with his own statement.

The protagonist tends to surprise me at the oddest of moments. At times I believe him to be this quiet, intrapersonal character, and then the next he will be daring and brute. He has a trait for being able to spin his personality on a dime. I find it odd that even though the story is being told from his point of view, its as if the author holds back certain characteristics of Jack's personality. Perhaps the intention is to surprise the reader when he does do something out of character which seems to happen more and more often as the book progresses.