A THOUSAND STEPS

5 stars out of 5

Dr. Timothy Leary's "Tune in, turn on, drop out" is a mantra I well remember from the late 1960s; even though I was a happy housewife with two small children, the colorful, free-thinking counterculture of California was in many ways appealing to me - and definitely helped change my somewhat sheltered Midwestern thinking. If nothing else, this engaging book brought those old memories to life and provided insights into what really went on back then. 

But it's much, much more than that; it's an up-close-and-personal look into the bittersweet life of 16-year-old Matt Anthony, who tries to make sense of things in Laguna Beach in 1968. It's not easy; most days, Matt has to make do with peanut butter on taco shells or fish he's caught for dinner because his mother is high as a kite and his father is missing in action. Happily, his older brother isn't - he's seeing action in Viet Nam, hoping to stay alive for the last few months of his tour of duty so he can return home. Matt earns a pittance delivering newspapers and tries his best to stay out of the drug scene; but then, his older sister Jasmine disappears without a trace.

His mother deals with the issue by moving into the heart of hippie land, living and working on a commune-style tomato-canning production line. That leaves Matt mostly on his own, having to decide almost on an hourly basis whether finding something to eat or looking for his sister takes precedence. Many of his "friends" straddle the fence between the police and the hippies, and some are willing to slip Matt some munchies (no, not THAT kind) or a job that earns him a few much-needed bucks. As for the cops, a couple seem sympathetic to his sister's disappearance, but Matt doesn't trust that they're really doing anything to find her. And on the other side, some of his best friends are hippies, but since their main focus is on "enlightenment," he doesn't fully trust them, either. So for the most part, he, too, is straddling the fence - all the while growing into a young man for whom life somehow can never be the same.

I'd love to say the story is heart-warming - and in a sense, it is; throughout many of the pages, all I really wanted to do was give Matt a big hug and tell him everything would be all right. In spots, I was near tears; in others, I chuckled. In the end, I think, I was satisfied. To the author, I say thanks for a totally engrossing story that will, like memories of my young-adult years, stay with me for some time. And more thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. This one for sure is a don't miss.

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker (Forge Books, January 2022); 368 pp.