Recently Read:The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SRP (Summer Reading Program) Why Bite: This is a well told story of an untraditional family of broken individuals that help each other heal.

I enjoyed Where the Heart Is so much that when I came across Letts’ second novel at the library, I immediately checked it out. The Honk and Holler Opening Soon has a lot of the qualities I enjoyed in her first novel. The characters are as unique and colorful as their names. Letts gives even minor characters depth and interest, and the major characters are so well developed that the reader develops a relationship with them. The story seamlessly flows from humor to tragedy, and all the emotions in between. Although Where the Heart Is had its harsh moments as it focused on Novalee’s story, Honk and Holler is far grittier as it follows the course of four main characters. The language and subject matter seems harsher, possibly due to one of the main characters and several of the minor characters are war vets. It’s primarily a love story between Caney and Vena, but also tells of Bui finding a home and Molly O finding solace.

Reading the acknowledgements, I learned that Letts did quite a bit of research to write this novel. She took great pangs to bring realistic detail to Caney being a wheelchair bound Vietnam vet, the passages in Vietnamese as well as the lengths some must go through to immigrate to this country, and the wounds inflicted on a dog, a horse and several humans. She also stays true to the time period, as the story takes place in the mid 80s, when prejudices, particularly against the Vietnamese, were still rather predominant. I must admit to wincing when I read the word “gook.” Her hard work paid off, as the realistic details really brings the reader into the story.

The story takes place in a diner that is really home to most of the characters, not just those who work there. Vena and Bui, much like Novalee, are transients who find that they too are at home at the Honk and Holler. They find a place to belong and a family to be a part of. All the characters are flawed, broken. Through the course of the novel, they help each other mend. Vena helps Caney live more fully and let go of the past. Caney helps Vena let people get close enough to care for her, and Life, a regular customer enamored with her, helps Molly O come to grips with her wanderlust daughter. By the end of the novel, nearly every strand of the story is concluded save for one. The reader is never told what becomes of Molly O’s daughter Brenda. It is hinted at that she may be pursuing her music aspirations, but Molly O doesn’t hear from her directly. Normally an unresolved subplot would bother me, but in this case it seemed appropriate given what Life had said to Molly O. It takes time, but eventually Brenda will get her act together. Letts shows Molly O able to get on with her life despite her wayward daughter’s absence. At the end of the novel, everyone is still broken, but they are all in a better place thanks to each other. Everyone is a work in progress.

While not as much of a feel good read as Letts’ first novel, her second delves deeper into human frailty. It’s a portrait of an untraditional family that finds each other and gives each other the help, love and understanding they need to heal and move on from the past. Each of the main characters finds a way to keep going, and is able to start anew. The end of the novel is really a new beginning for each of them, even the three legged dog. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry, but it will also make you consider the human condition and how fragile and uncertain we really are.


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