Water Boy Book

Reminiscent of The Last Picture Show and Paris Trout, Water Boy is a powerful and dramatic first novel about a town obsessed with fundamentalist religion and high school football, and of the town's young people, who are nearly destroyed by these overpowering passions. Water Boy is the story of William "Sonny" Schultz, a young man growing up in the 1950s in Cimarron, Oklahoma, who feels destined from birth - chosen by God - to spread the gospel. Prodded by his mother, a religious zealot, Sonny is already performing baptisms at the age of fifteen. But as he grows older, Sonny becomes disillusioned with religion and his mother's fanaticism. He gets a calling of another kind - as water boy for the town's other passion, its high school football team, the Cimarron Dustdevils - just as his best friend, Danny, starts to show promise as the team's quarterback. As their lives become consumed by the narrowness and corruption of the town's obsessions, Danny and Sonny compete for the affections of Dovie Lasher, the steady girlfriend of Brice "Killer" Miller, their long-time nemesis. The town knows this rivalry will eventually explode. They hope Danny can bring them a state football championship before it does. Few novels have explored the kind of faith that claims God speaks personally to believers, nor have many novels shown so clearly what the effects of that faith can be. Water Boy is a gripping portrait of a confined, all-consuming culture, written with a deftness and grace rare for a first novel.