American Boy

  ACKNOWLEGMENTS

  BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE AT MILKWEED: Ben Barnhart, Jennifer Harmening, Ethan Rutherford, Kate Strickland, Patrick Thomas, Allison Wigen, and of course Emilie Buchwald, who started it all.

  A special thanks to Daniel Slager, my editor, for his intelligence, understanding, and keen eye.

  Thanks to PJ Mark, my agent, for his friendship and support.

  I will be forever indebted to Ralph Vicinanza and will miss his wisdom and laughter.

  Thanks to Elly Heuring and Amy Watson.

  Above all, thanks to Susan, to whom this novel is dedicated.

  A slightly altered version of the first three chapters appeared in The North American Review.

  LARRY WATSON is the author of Montana 1948, Justice, White Crosses, Orchard, and several other novels. He is the recipient of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, the Friends of American Writers award, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and many other prizes and awards. He teaches writing and literature at Marquette University in Milwaukee, where he lives with his wife, Susan.

  For more, see larry-watson.com.

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  Milkweed Editions, a nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from Amazon.com; Emilie and Henry Buchwald; the Bush Foundation; the Patrick and Aimee Butler Foundation; Timothy and Tara Clark; the Dougherty Family Foundation; Friesens; the General Mills Foundation; John and Joanne Gordon; Ellen Grace; William and Jeanne Grandy; the Jerome Foundation; the Lerner Foundation; Sanders and Tasha Marvin; the McKnight Foundation; Mid-Continent Engineering; the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; Kelly Morrison and John Willoughby; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Navarre Corporation; Ann and Doug Ness; Jörg and Angie Pierach; the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation; the RBC Foundation USA; the Target Foundation; the Travelers Foundation; Moira and John Turner; and Edward and Jenny Wahl.

  Interior design by Connie Kuhnz

  Typeset in Warnock Pro

  by BookMobile Design and Publishing Services

  Printed on acid-free 100% postconsumer waste paper

  by Friesens Corporation

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  © 2011, Text by Larry Watson

  All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415.

  (800) 520-6455

  www.milkweed.org

  Published 2011 by Milkweed Editions

  Author photo by Susan Watson

  Please turn to the back of this book for a list of the sustaining funders of Milkweed Editions.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Watson, Larry, 1947–

  p. cm.

  eISBN : 978-1-571-31846-6

  1. Life change events—Fiction. 2. Small cities—Fiction. 3. Minnesota—Fiction. 4. Psychological fiction. I. Title.

  PS3573.A853A83 2011

  813’.54—dc23

  2011021334

  This book is printed on acid-free paper.