I am sure that i wouldike to review your book but first i would like to read it.

Here's what I've been harvesting lately from movies, tv shows, and fiction: the value of witnessing characters who struggle with their problems but are unable to see what it is in their make-up that makes the struggle so hard. The audience can see it, but the character can't. I won't stay with stories where the myopia's artificial, where the author seems to be pointlessly tormenting her characters with awkwardly contrived boils and toils. I'm engaged by writers and directors who present this struggle with authenticity. I imagine exposure to this quality of fiction might help me with my own struggles. If you're into that, I recommend Donley Watts' new novel, Reynolds.

A little bit of word play in the opening sentence of Reynolds made me smile, chuckle to myself. It seemed incidental then but when I finished the novel, it seemed to contain the whole story. The title character is goofing around in his liquor store after closing. Ray Reynolds is listening to music, sliding around in his sock feet, and waiting for his lady friend, whose name is Joy.

Waiting for Joy.

Waiting for joy?

Turned out not to be that much joyful about Joy. Downright sad, really. Not much joy for Joy, or Reynolds, or for many of the other characters who experienced the beautifully rendered cycles of East Texas seasons with them. Too much waiting, not enough joy.

Reynolds' mom was waiting for leaf-raking to rise higher on her husband's priority list than it would on hers. To Edwina's credit, she finally stopped waiting. Unfortunately for her beautifully shaded back yard and the fortunes of at least one blue jay (and maybe Edwina herself), she didn't stop waiting soon enough for a half-measure or even a simple full measure to satisfy her need for action.

Reynold's dad stopped waiting too. Ray senior stopped waiting for the marital tension to resolve itself under the roof of the neglected old house, stopped waiting for his improbable gift to the world to drag itself from under a dusty tarp and finish inventing itself.

My guess is that Reynold's brother Perry is still waiting for Armageddon to come and promote him to his rightful stature among men. Despite an epiphany that pointed to action, I think Perry's wife Beth might still be waiting for her husband to share his inner life with her.

And Reynolds is still waiting for the right woman to walk through the door of his liquor store on a remote lake, instead of figuring out what he wants and going out to get it. We can see that; Reynolds can't.

I lived in this part of Texas in 1959 and I can't believe how wrong Watt has gotten it. None of it rings true, not the description, not the characters, none of it. If you want to read a book that captures the heart of Texas read something by John Graves or Cormac McCarthy.

HALEY TEXAS 1959 is an American classic. I loved these two fascinating novellas. Don Watt's powerful voice and storytelling ability is as rare as it is mesmerizing. Like John Sayles or Raymond Carver, Watt unflinchingly explores tough questions--racial, spiritual, family--with courage and integrity. The novellas confront the notion of family values as they explore father-son/mother-son relationships and the nature of familial fidelity and ethical responsibility as well as greater social issues of racism, small town politics, spirituality, conscience, honor and truth. Watt is an expert craftsman and first rate fiction writer. With the authority of someone who intimately understands small town life, Watt has created complex characters whose stories are utterly compelling. And he depicts those characters with clarity, intelligence and compassion in language that is never dull or disappointing.

If you're looking for a great read, pick up HALEY, TEXAS 1959. Buy a copy for a friend. It might be the best money you spend all year. You won't be disappointed.

I read the review in the Dallas News Readers Section, Immediately "one click" ordered it from Amazon.com and read it within a week of ordering it. I enjoyed it very much and will read it several more times. Mr. Watt has truly captured the climate of the Henderson County of the 1950s that I remember. I am a year or two older than he, but, as a resident of a near by small Henderson County town during those times, I remember yearning for and saving for firearms in Spencer's Hardware and have even attended some of the churches he describes so well. I relived the effect the mind-set of the condesending old church elder he describes as well as the shadow religious ferver can cast over a family. There is no way I can describe how well he captures the climate of the times and I wish I had the ablility to express myself with such honesty and integrity. He is such a powerful writer. This is a great book...one to treasure and keep.

These stories are full of cliched characters, cliched dialogue, and second-rate description. Try Paris, Texas instead.

I love books about the Southwest but this one bored me to sleep. Anybody who has read Cormac McCarthy will find that Watt is a joke of a writer.