My Good Man
Fraught, darkly funny coming-of-age tale mostly for adults.
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that My Good Man, by author, academic, and Onondaga Eel Clan member Eric Gansworth, is a complex, fraught, often crude, darkly hopeful coming of age tale written for an adult audience. Fans of Gansworth's young adult fiction will find familiar themes in this story, set in 1992 with flashback vignettes from the '70s and '80s: life on and off the Rez; the conflicts that come of living in two worlds (and being an outsider in both of them); a darkly funny, ironic worldview; a search for the right path. Also, lives saved by rock 'n' roll -- here, the Canadian band Rush. However, it's a much edgier world than in his YA novels. Toxic waste (literal and emotional) and tangled relationships are constant. So are dicey (literally) situations, as teens and adults drink, smoke, and gamble as normal daily life. Life-changing scenes involve masturbation -- a recurring theme -- and oral sex. Broken marriages, domestic violence, serial cheating, and a loving couple who rob all their neighbors blind are part of the landscape. So are crude situations (the narrator has many close encounters with toilets, both scrubbing gross ones on his job and having his head plunged into them as a bullied kid) and language, including "f--k," "s--t," "piss," "pecker," and more. Teen readers may find the story's slow pacing and contemplative, often worried narrative style a bit of a slog. Those who persevere will find a lot of thought-provoking history and culture along the way, often seen in unexpected perspectives, and probably some relatable situations..
What's the Story?
As MY GOOD MAN opens, it's 1992. Brian Waterson, 25, has left Rez life and its complex relationships behind, and is now a writer for a small-town newspaper. But when he learns of a vicious, mysterious beating back on the Rez, he knows he has to go back. Tim, the victim, is an older White man (brother to the long-deceased title character, serial cheater but beloved boyfriend of Brian's mom), who married a woman from the tribe and raised a family with her, and was often a mentor to Brian. Brian has a pretty good idea who did the beating, and the backstory unfolds in flashbacks going back to the '70s and '80s as he investigates and feels the conflicting pulls of Rez life, where he's his uncle's chosen successor as a healer, and the White world.
Is It Any Good?
Eric Gansworth's adult tale finds a 25-year-old Tuscarora man sorting out his identity amid conflicting demands, clashing worldviews, and complex relationships. Crude, funny, introspective and leisurely, My Good Man is packed with historic and cultural references, including the Two Row Wampum Treaty in the early 1600s that sought to define forever the relationship between Indigenous tribes and Dutch settlers; the Love Canal toxic waste disaster; and the Canadian band Rush. Set in 1992 near Niagara Falls, on and off the Tuscarora reservation, the story finds protagonist Brian trying to find a path between two worlds, alienated and typecast in his newspaper job, but ostracized and seen as weird back on the Rez. It's complicated, partly due to the family business.
"My grandfather's older brother ... might not be the only remaining medicine man, but he was the last one working in the open. Not like, hanging a shingle with a spiral handprint out front, and dreamcatchers dangling from beneath it, or other ridiculous New Age s--t. The Rez didn't speak of it, but if you needed something? You knew where to go. As soon as you say 'Medicine family' off the Rez, though, suddenly some woman drenched in patchouli and turquoise was reporting her psychic dreams and secret high Indian cheekbones. Or a middle-aged blond guy with a sad possum-tail braid was asking you to bless his drum group's digs in the old growth he bought day-trading."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the challenges of trying to build a life in two worlds, as Brian does in My Good Man. What other stories do you know that explore this theme? Are there any that you think do so especially well?
In the 1600s, the Two Row Wampum Treaty sought to establish a world of two nations moving along in parallel, seeking their own paths and leaving each other alone. Do you think this idea could have worked? Why or why not?
Has a band ever had a life-changing effect on you, the way Rush does with Brian here? Who was it and what happened?
Book Details
- Author: Eric Gansworth
- Genre: Literary Fiction
- Topics: Friendship, History
- Character Strengths: Empathy, Gratitude, Perseverance
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Levine Querido
- Publication date: November 1, 2022
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 14 - 18
- Number of pages: 400
- Available on: Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: January 23, 2023
Our Editors Recommend
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Apple: (Skin to the Core)
Extraordinary must-read memoir of coming of age on the Rez.
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A Snake Falls to Earth
Myth, magic, science in imaginative, lively eco-tale.
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Off the Rez
Frank docu prompts questions about sports, race, and family.
For kids who love Native American stories
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