South of the Big Four Book

Set in contemporary farm country of north central Indiana, just south of the Big Four railroad tracks, this extraordinary first novel tells the story of thirty-year-old Arthur Conason and his return to his family's abandoned farmhouse. The land is now farmed by the indomitable Gerry Maars, who immediately takes Arthur on as his hired man. Physically strong and emotionally reserved, Arthur falls into several casual but disruptive affairs. Gradually he comes to accept the love of a young waitress who can see past her uncaring husband and four children to a life they someday might share. He is also won over by Gerry Maars' creed of endless prosperity and optimism. it is only as Gerry's enterprise begins to fail and Arthur's own past can no longer be avoided that the fates of these unforgettable characters become clear.

Publishers Weekly

In gracefully unencumbered prose that evokes isolation and loss, this first novel uses the story of two Indiana men in order to pay elegiac tribute to America's dwindling number of small farmers. At 30, narrator Arthur Conason chooses to live on the deserted property of his late father, a failed farmer, and work the fields for neighbor Gerry Maars. More successful than Arthur's dad was, the abrasive, resourceful Gerry displays a tenacity that Kurtz clearly means to be emblematic of people who are unable to loosen their ties to a way of life whose increasing hardships break both the heart and the wallet. Though the solitary Arthur keeps his distance from everyone, his relationship with Gerry deepens as he grows to see his employer as a surrogate father. Kurtz effectively portrays the rhythms and the socioeconomic facts of this threatened world, but he stumbles when addressing his characters' psychological or moral dilemmas. Their motivations remain unclear (e.g., we don't understand why Arthur drifts in and out of relationships with successive women, or why these women seek him out). But he does handle the novel's structure skillfully, seamlessly taking Arthur from the present to the past and back to the present as he struggles to come to terms with ``an ever more impatient world.'' (July)