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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
In the novel Look Unto the Land by George Rollie Adams, the aftermath of World War I sends protagonist Henry Grant on a mission of vengeance from Indiana to the bustling oil town of Berrytown, Arkansas. Amid the boomtown's chaotic mix of oil field workers, gamblers, and criminals, Henry navigates this foreign environment while learning the trade of a mule skinner and becoming an unlikely champion for the marginalized. Concurrently, Mary Dutton, a widow and mother striving to stay afloat, is compelled into an illegal drug trade by her employer. Mary's Uncle Otis, an eco-conscious farmer, fights the devastating environmental impact of oil drilling, clashing with his best friend Isaiah Watson, who views the oil industry as an escape from racial prejudice. As Berrytown expands and oil tarnishes the land, all must confront transformative choices.
The historical elements make Look Unto the Land by George Rollie Adams stand out to me as good literary fiction. The novel itself is not a steamrolling page-turner, but the benefit of a slow and methodical moving forward is the ability to immerse a reader in the story. There is a scene where Henry is driving to the Leatherhouse farm and he comes across the Taylor family with their Ford Model-T stuck in a creek. A creek! And, they invite him back to their tent. Nuggets like these build atmosphere and show us how things were at that time and are really wonderfully done. Henry is very likable as a character. He returns to the Taylor camp to give them back their stolen quilt, which seems small, but it is the accumulation of small deeds that create the whole man, and Adams has built characters from the ground up. The plot is clear, the writing is clean, and the narrative flows nicely. Overall, this is a thoughtful novel with a unique series of settings, set in a time of profound change. Very highly recommended.
