The Starlite Drive-In

Author: Marjorie Reynolds
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Pages: 282
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: When land developers uncover human bones at the site of the old drive-in, Callie Anne Benton realizes that she alone knows the identity of the victim who mysteriously disappeared thirty-six years ago. In The Starlite Drive-in Callie Anne recalls the tumultuous summer of 1956. Nearly thirteen, she's stuck at home with her parents during a long, hot summer in rural Indiana. Her father, an angry, bitter man, runs the drive-in, and the only time she ever feels close to him is when they're in the projection booth watching movies. Her mother is an agoraphobe who hasn't left the house in five years, effectively trapping her husband in a job he's grown to hate. When a drifter named Charlie Memphis comes to work at the drive-in, the sweltering summer becomes more bearable. Both mother and daughter fall for Memphis's charms, but Callie Anne's father remains suspicious of his secretive past. A disastrous turn of events changes all of their lives forever, and it's up to the grown-up Callie Anne to unlock the secret of the decades-old mystery.

Review: The drive-in makes an interesting backdrop for this well-written story. I would have liked a few twists and an ending that was less predictable, but it was impossible to not identify with the characters, flawed though they were. I was drawn into Callie Anne's world and hated to leave it behind when the novel ended.

This excerpt, found on page 167, especially resonated with me:

"Didn't you ever think of marrying before?"

"Once."

"Why didn't you?"

He pondered for a moment. "Guess you might say she had expectations. Her daddy owned a big company in the center of town. Hell, her father owned the town. She got this idea of me working in this factory office he had, sorting through stacks of paper and making some sense of them. I tried to tell her I wasn't built like that, but she thought if I loved her. . .well, finally it began to occur to me a man don't love the way a woman does. He just loves.

That's a powerful line within the story, and one that has means something to me. It will stay with me for a long time, I'm sure.