Author: Wayne M. Johnston

Publisher: Black Heron Press

ISBN: 978-1-93636434-3

The press material for Wayne Johnston’s new work calls it an autobiographical novel. That, of course, gives reviewers and other readers with advanced publicity material some useful background right off the bat as to the mood, tone and objective of the singular tale the author weaves, and perhaps even a sneak peek into the earnestness, aches and longing of his main character. The challenge in a case like that, of course, is in whether or not the author’s prose and storytelling skill can do the same exact thing for readers who have no such access—for those who must rely on nothing but the book itself. 

If twelve impartial peers were charged with making that determination, it might very well end in a hung jury. But where art and culture are concerned, a hung jury is perfectly acceptable. Many readers will, in fact, find that Johnston did as creditable a job as possible, given the steep, uphill emotional climb we’re required to make along with Bill Smith, the protagonist who must navigate one perilous turn of life after another. Many others, however, may find the journey just a tad too laborious and sullen for them to consider it a satisfying literary journey. 

Into which category any particular reader falls may depend on a host of ingredients: how important is narrative speed to their ability to stay aboard; how many minor details are acceptable before the story becomes arduous; how expressive and inspired must the narration be in order to be sustainable as a true piece of literature; how enjoyable or relatable must the characters be in order to fully engage with them. But that’s the marvelous thing about literature: reading a new novel is always such a relatively slight investment in time and money that one would be hard-pressed to find a good-enough reason not to give it a shot. Especially one that is legitimately published, one for which the synopsis denotes a highly intriguing story, and one by an author with a bio that shows prior experience with the art and craft of writing. 

On the basis of those three stipulations alone, The Home Stretch should not be taken off anyone’s to-read list. 

Johnston, whose career included long stints working on a tugboat and teaching in a classroom, and whose first novel was called North Fork, has written his own Book of Job, in which Bill Smith (who also works on a tugboat) faces one uphill climb after another on his life’s expedition. Among his many personal conflicts, confrontations and contentions are the religious shackles put on by his parents, the way his disciplinarian father deals with his son’s obesity, his own need to rebel, his suicidal depression and subsequent acute illness, his own father’s sickness… And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of literal and figurative storms through which Bill must push his way through. It’s as if his life is proof that some people need to simply protect and cocoon themselves in rainproof, mudproof and windproof rain slickers and galoshes to brace themselves against the real world. In short, there is a heck of a lot to handle in this narrative. But that having been said, two things also deserve mention. Firstly, there are indeed some rest stops along the way that are bathed in some emotional sunlight. Secondly, there is the sense that at the end of the tunnel there will be a place of understanding and survival, hope and healing. 

It may be easy to directly relate Johnston’s first-person storytelling style to the weighty emotional and fatalistic baggage that Bill Smith carries around with him. The words spare, austere, and unembellished come to mind. It’s almost as if Bill Smith (or Wayne Johnston) just needed to set it down on paper to free himself, with or without fetching prose. As discussed earlier, that may not be a criticism as much as a preparatory word of caution. In other words, one may fully appreciate every step of the Job-like climb while another may run out of strength even before the first rest stop. But once again, as a literary cruise, even if it’s a potentially grueling one on a stormy sea, it won’t take long to complete, there will always be a few worthwhile sights along the way, and the whole trip will cost far less than a new pair of galoshes.