Review
======
Title: Hurricane Coltrane
Author: Taya Okerlund
Publisher: WiDō Publishing, Salt Lake City, UT and Houston, TX
Genre: Religion & Spirituality
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 244
Binding: Softcover
ISBN10: n/a
ISBN13: 978-1-937178-67-3
Price: $15.95
Reviewed by Elizabeth W. Roach for the Association for Mormon Letters
“Hurricane Coltrane”, a new release from Taya Okerlund, is a novel with good pacing and unique characters. Merrill is a high school sophomore in a small American town where he plays trombone in marching band. One day when Robbie runs away from his family, he finds the hidden trombone under the bleachers and begins to play it with an unparalleled gift for music. These two mismatched young men find their love of music and status as social fringe unites them (as well as Merrill’s trombone) enough as friends as they sort out identity issues and personal goals in this coming of age story.
At first, neither one has much to dream about. Robbie is a soon to be outcast since he is part of a fundamentalist polygamy community outside of Hurricane, Utah that banishes young adolescent males for the sin of being born male. Merrill is a social outcast in his rural conservative hometown since his mother is an outspoken advocate for the safety of the members of the polygamist community that want to leave. Both boys love and support their mothers, even though their relationships are not ideal. They also have uninvolved, nearly invisible fathers who continue to coerce and pressure the mothers, who, in turn, staunchly resist with all the strength they have. Both boys are amazing teenage prodigies in different fields. Robbie has unrivaled musical ability and Merrill is a gifted political fund raiser who has advanced skills with technology and creates his own website to find his absentee father.
Having lived in Utah, I realize that the town of Hurricane is pronounced to sound more like “pelican”, but that whole aspect might be confusing for people who have never heard of Hurricane, UT. The chaos in the boys’ story is compared to a hurricane, but I also liked that at one point in the story there was calm resolution, like being in the eye of a hurricane and the story ends on a hopeful note. The two towns are portrayed with a variety of characters, some more likable than others. It seemed like several of the characters were a bit like walk-on parts. I would have enjoyed fewer characters who I got to know better. Character development in the main characters is solid. Some of the best lines in the book are in the last few pages. My favorite of the book is, “she looks like the color green after a hard winter.”
Okerlund uses well chosen details and research to her advantage in illustrating scenes, and her characters use realistic dialogue. Including vivid details that only someone who had actually been in the moment would have enhanced several scenes; particularly well done were the moments with the high school band teacher, the political fund raiser and the nighttime stakeout.
The target audience is probably tweener to young adult, especially those with an interest in jazz or music in general. The story was pleasant to read once I got started, and had a few surprises and twists to keep it moving along. The more I think about the story, the more I find to like about it.