Watching Gideon Book

GIDEON PICKETT WAS BORN WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO SPEAK. This has never bothered his father, Jubal. He understands his son better than anybody, and though the boy has never uttered a word, the two could be no closer. This Gideon is no ordinary child: His powers of observation, strength, and extraordinary threshold for pain make him almost otherworldly, though to Jubal he's just a moody, hungry sixteen-year-old kid. He would do anything for his boy. So, in 1953, Jubal Pickett makes the decision to buy a red Ford Flathead V-8 truck and travel with Gideon from Mississippi to the desert canyon lands of Utah to strike it rich in uranium prospecting. On their journey, they encounter Abilene Breedlove, a country-girl-meets-femme-fatale. Jubal is smitten. Abilene sees only opportunity, but she joyfully jumps into her end of the bargain and climbs aboard.

Things begin to fall apart when they arrive in Utah. While Jubal sets out on what most consider to be a fool's errand, Abilene fi nds herself a job and Jack Savage. Jack is handsome, mysterious, rich, and powerful — all qualities Abilene fi nds irresistible. He cuts Jubal in on a claim he owns in order to get the man out of town as fast as possible so that he can begin aggressively pursuing the intoxicating Abilene. It's not long before the situation gets out of hand.

Watching Gideon is at once a poignant, moving portrait of a nearly supernatural bond between father and son, a snapshot of America's rugged, gritty history, and a fast-paced story of lust, greed, and self-satisfaction. Filled with humor, adventure, sex, and intrigue, it is the textured, incredible, stark tale of the cost of an American dreampursued.

Publishers Weekly

In his agreeable if unoriginal second novel, Foreman tells a tale of postwar optimism and determination steeped in the great American traditions of westward expansion and manifest destiny. In 1953, Jubal Pickett, a WWII navy vet, and his mute son, Gideon, leave their farm in Natchez, Miss., and head to Edom, Utah, hoping to strike it rich on uranium. During a stop in Port Arthur, Tex., they pick up Abilene Breedlove, a seductive social climber always on the lookout for a new man. Once in Edom, the intrepid party secures a title to prospect some land with the help of a couple of local power players. But with Jubal and Gideon searching for riches in the badlands and Abilene left to her own devices in town, trouble starts brewing. The linguistic and cultural details richly bring the era and region to life, but in the end, this feels like a coat of fresh paint over too familiar characters and a ready-made story line. (Nov.)