Erica’s Pick of the Week (and Year): Buckeye

To be honest, Patrick Ryan’s Buckeye did not initially strike me as a page turner. 

The book follows two families in small-town Ohio from World War II through the early 1970s. On V-E day, a spontaneous celebratory kiss between Cal Jenkins and Margaret Salt – each married to someone else – sets off a chain reaction of events that reverberates through decades.

As premises go, it’s…fine? I guess?

The execution, though, is brilliant. Patrick Ryan captures small-town life and the people who live there with a clear eye and a deep fondness. Every twist and turn of the plot, every conflict and moment of change, stems from the people at the heart of the story.

And what ordinary yet incredible people they are! There’s Cal Jenkins, unable to serve in the military (or forgive himself for it). His wife Becky discovers she has an incredible gift and commits herself to honoring it. Margaret Salt uses her beauty as a shield but yearns for connection. Felix, her perfect-on-paper husband, can’t stop hiding from himself. And there is the next generation: Skip Jenkins and Tom Salt, who form an unlikely friendship that carries them from the schoolyard to the Vietnam War.

Richly drawn and deeply human, the residents of Bonhomie, Ohio spend their lives making mistakes, amends, and unexpected connections. None of them acts in a vacuum, and none of them, even those who make terrible, terrible choices, is a villain. 

The magic of Buckeye is in the details. Patrick Ryan conveys big questions and ideas – about family, duty, marriage, identity – on an intensely personal scale, with characters we can see ourselves in. The result is a utterly absorbing read that will leave you simultaneously heartbroken and hopeful. 

Hands down, Buckeye is my favorite book of the year, and a must-read for fans of Ann Patchett, Daniel Mason, or James McBride.