Brock Clarke's debut novel, \The Ordinary White Boy,"" is going to strike a chord in the heart of anyone who reads it. The story's hero, Lamar Kerry Jr., is a 27- year-old college graduate with no apparent aspirations for the future. Having finished school and returned to the small town in upstate New York where he grew up, he finds himself working part-time for his father, who is the editor of the local newspaper.
The town is dying as the factories are pulling out, and most of the residents are finding themselves seeking employment at a prison over an hour away. Lamar has an uncle serving time at the prison, and as he takes a deep look at his own life--going nowhere, no goals, very few choices--he compares himself to his uncle and tries to decipher what makes him different from the man.
His uncle is serving a sentence for arson, a racially motivated crime in which he burns down the house of a black family that has moved to town. As Lamar ponders his uncle's choices, the one Latino man in his town disappears, and Lamar decides to become a hero by solving the mystery of his disappearance.
Somehow, the search for answers segues into a meaning-of-life road trip with a friend, who is pondering whether or not to work at the prison. While he ponders, he does a lot of fishing and a fairly impressive amount of drinking.
Lamar, on the other hand, does a lot of soul searching. He tries to decide how to balance his living simply with his desire to live up to his father's expectations, and how to balance his love for his girlfriend with the fear he feels for his mother, who is suffering from multiple sclerosis and is crippled, which takes a toll on his father.
In Lamar, Clarke has created a very interesting center for his novel. Lamar is very insightful, and much of Clarke's narrative is sharp, funny and intelligent.
For the reader, it is easy to sympathize with Lamar. He comes across as a genuinely likeable fellow, and for the most part, he seems like the average person.
Lamar has made choices that many people may have considered, but might not have been brave enough to act upon. Lamar purposely decides not to live up to the expectations society places upon intelligent people, instead preferring to barely make ends meet.
Unfortunately for the reader, however, Lamar doesn't seem to get enthusiastic about anything--not his girlfriend, not his family, not his job, not even his friends. Without a sense of his passions, it is very difficult to understand what drives him. It is a disappointing oversight.
By the end of the book, Lamar's idealism has faded. He resigns himself to marrying his girlfriend, even though he is plagued by doubts as to whether he really loves her. He continues working in this small town, and prepares himself to face the same fate that has befallen his predecessors to marry and live in a small town and never live up to his full potential.
Although the ending of the story is anticlimactic after everything that comes before it, ""The Ordinary White Boy"" is still a great read because of the diverse issues it brings up. It is an innately feel-good novel about real-life choices and personal discovery. Clarke's debut is ambitious, and it delivers, with heart, humor and intelligence. It is a wonderful story, impressively executed and in every way worthwhile.
