Heading Out to Wonderful

Heading Out to Wonderful is the first Robert Goolrick novel I've read. Our library does have his first novel, A Reliable Wife, which I think I am going to read just to see if it is any better than this second novel of his.
This is one of those novels that looked interesting to me based on the cover. This is the quote inside the cover: "Let me tell you something, son. When you're young, and head out to wonderful, everything is fresh and bright as a brand-new penny, but before you get to wonderful you're going to have to pass through all right. And when you get to all right, stop and take a good, long look, because that may be as far as you're ever going to go."
I liked the quote. I thought this could be a very good book. It is the story of Charlie Beale, a man recently back from the war in Europe. It is 1948. He is traveling around, looking for a place to settle down. He stops in Brownsburg, a sleepy village nestled in the Valley of Virginia. With him he has two suitcases: one contains his few possessions, including a fine set of butcher knives; the other is full of money - a lot of money.
There were so many things I liked about Charlie. I could even understand his obsession with Sylvan, the wife of the town's richest man. I think why I didn't really care for the book was the ending - the way Charlie completely disregarded the effect his actions could have on the psyche of the young boy he had befriended.
But maybe that is the whole point of the story, which is related by that young boy some seventy years later.

A Good American by Alex George is a multi-generational story which begins in Prussia in 1904. Jette is from an upper class family. She falls in love with Frederick, a man who sings for his supper in taverns. Jette's family disapproves. Jette becomes pregnant. Her mother kicks her out. Jette & Frederick flee to America. Frederick hears of a job opportunity in Rocheport, Missouri but before they can get there, Jette goes into labor in the small town of Beatrice, Missouri. The people there speak German. They are kind to Jette and Frederick. The couple decides to settle there.
I really like 'immigrants coming to America' stories. They generally inform me of what my own ancestors experienced when they left their homelands for the challenges of a new life. I pretty much liked this novel through the second generation, but by the time it got to the third and into the 21st Century, I was ready to be done reading. Even the surprise twist at the end of the book (the reason there is a cornet on the cover?) didn't make up for the way the story had drug on. It seemed like the author felt he had to put every significant happening into the book (i.e. Kennedy's assassination.) And somehow music was to be responsible for holding all the different family story lines together.

Ruth Rendell's latest novel, The St. Zita Society, was my favorite of these three books. Maybe it is just because I like mysteries, especially English mysteries. Rendell's books are always peopled with the most bizarre characters. Of course you know there is always going to be at least one murder. The book flap leads you to believe the perpetrator is most likely going to be Dex, a young man recently released from a mental institution. (He tried to stab his mother.) Dex believes he receives messages through his cell phone from a god he calls Peach.
All the characters of this twisted tale live on one block of a posh London street - Hexam Place. They are the homeowners and their servants. Life appears placid and orderly on the outside but beneath the tranquil veneer, the upstairs-downstairs relationships are about to explode.
One of the servants decides to form a union of sorts where all the employees can get together to discuss their grievances and possibly come up with solutions. She names their group The St. Zita Society in honor of the patron saint of maids and domestic servants.
I really like Rendell's books. I love the way she delves into the psychological make up of her characters.