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George Pelecanos starts his latest novel, "The Turnaround," in 1972. Alex Pappas is thumbing a ride to work at his father's diner in Washington, D.C.
Alex sees The Rolling Stones on their 1972 concert tour. The opening act is Stevie Wonder.
In 1972, I hitchhiked from Des Moines to Knoxville, Tenn., to catch that same tour. Pelecanos had me right there.
This nostalgia trip ends suddenly when Pelecanos brings us to the scene of a crime. Alex rides along in a car with two of his friends. They decide to drive into a black neighborhood and do something incredibly stupid. The three white youths encounter three black youths along the road, and an ugly racial incident occurs.
In the chaos that ensues we are not quite sure what happens. Somebody pulls a gun. A boy dies. Another suffers a horrific injury. That nostalgic sense of 1972 fades into the rear-view mirror like some hideous dream.
The remainder of "The Turnaround" occurs in the present day. Alex is 35 years older and he runs his father's diner now. One of his sons has recently been killed in Iraq. Alex takes his leftover desserts to the VA Hospital for the vets who are there recovering from their wounds.
"The Turnaround" presents issues that are vital to Pelecanos, who told me that "Alex is probably the most autobiographical character I've ever written."
The book is dedicated to a family friend who died in Iraq. The author's father once owned a diner in D.C.
He explained: "I've been to the VA Hospital here in D.C. I've talked to a lot of veterans who have been in previous wars including the first Gulf War. They get forgotten. These people, unless we keep an eye on the ball and just keep talking about this, will be in a sense forgotten, too, because we'll be on to the next war and the focus will be on that. But they've got to live their lives. So we have to really make sure we keep thinking about them."
While he is at the hospital, Alex encounters a man who recognizes him. He is one of the fellows who was involved in that tragic incident.
"The Turnaround" presents an object lesson in the power of redemption and the importance of how a person is raised. Pelecanos believes that "anybody who is who they are got there for a reason."
Pelecanos wrote for the popular TV series "The Wire." He told me about his latest project.
"I wrote for a year on this show called 'The Pacific.' ... We follow a group of Marines from the beginning of the war all the way through all the island campaigns to the end. That's going to be on HBO in 2010. I wrote a couple of hours of that.
"It's produced by (Steven) Spielberg and (Tom) Hanks. It's sort of a sequel to "Band of Brothers."
For Pelecanos, it's deeply personal. He said: "I did it for my father."
Book reviewer Vick Mickunas blogs daily about books at www.DaytonDailyNews.com/booknook. Contact him at vick@vickmickunas.com
Posted by Vick Mickunas on 8/20/08; 5:56:22 PM
from the dept.
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