Paul Kostner is seemingly content with his life as a teacher at a technical college in Minnesota, until he follows an inner call to search for a change in the direction of his life and heads into Wisconsin. He hopes to find twenty acres of land to tend, to follow the drive brought on by “a return of childhood memories of growing up on a farm”. Instead, he finds himself the owner of a dilapidated 200-acre property. As he tends to the land, Kostner discovers his interest in faculty social parties waning and Fran doesn’t share Kostner’s vision about the land and is looking more like an “alien” rather than his corporate-ladder-climbing romantic partner. On the flip side, as Kostner’s once strained relationship with his ex-wife become less strained and he develops a close relationship with his daughter; Kostner also finds an integral and natural kinship forming with his neighbors, especially Liz and her son Max.
Author Ron Winter’s characters are appealing and their development through their actions and dialogue is natural and effective. Corkscrew Ridge is reminiscent of Thoreau’s Walden, revealing Kostner’s change when he returns to nature, and a meditative narrative. Winter shows not only the transformations that take place in Kostner physically and emotionally, but also the contrast of the city life with its fanciness, material riches and social hierarchy and the seeming bareness and emptiness of the rural life.
Winter’s narrative reveals how the changing condition of the farm parallels the protagonist’s personal life; how Kostner feels increasingly unfulfilled with his former life as he becomes more involved with his land and as he clears the debris from the land his life is simpler, healthier and far richer than it ever was before.
Winter’s description of the landscape is simply stated, yet captures the rich setting. The details about nature are enticing and illuminating and convey an aesthetic element even with what one might think would be mundane routines of the farm:
“Paul saw it coming down the country road at twilight in a misty spring rain. Wide-load flags angled out form the flatbed truck whipping smartly a rotating amber light above the cab and flashing reds all around signified something substantial approached.”
The only elements of incongruity are related more to the organization of the book rather than narrative. The preface that bluntly summarizes the novel seems extraneous and the excerpt of the book review that follows the preface is somewhat misplaced since Winter’s narrative speaks for itself.
Corkscrew Ridge is a stirring and beguiling portrayal of a man’s journey and quiet transformation.
Reviewed by Maya Fleischmann for IndieReader