SOURCE: "Migration That Leads to Self-Discovery," in Christian Science Monitor, March 10, 1998.

[In The following excerpt, Rubin briefly considers McNeal's kinship with other writers and his ability to depict "ordinary" lives in Goodnight, Nebraska.]

In Tom McNeal's accomplished first novel, a teenage boy leaves his home in Utah to make a fresh start in the mythical town of Goodnight, Nebraska, which is also the title of the book [….] Randall Hunsacker [is the] husky, gruff, likable, rather innocent-hearted lower-class hero of Goodnight, Nebraska. When his father dies in an accident, Randall's no-class mother takes up with a sordid fellow who's got eyes for Randall's nubile teenage sister. As problems worsen, precipitating a near disaster, Randall is given the chance to get away and start over.

The little farming town of Goodnight is not Randall's idea of Shangri-La. Compared with Salt Lake City, this place looks like "Hicksville." But, as McNeal...