AS GOOD AS GONE almost got past me. Not for any particular reason, and certainly not due to lack of effort by its venerable publisher, Algonquin Books, which is seemingly incapable of releasing a bad book. No, it was more an issue of my eyes being bigger than my head: so many books, so little time, and yes, a slow but steady decline in my ability to read as quickly as I used to. I am glad, though, that I pressed myself into service for this novel, and for its stellar author, Larry Watson. AS GOOD AS GONE is one of the best books I have read so far this year, a year that has already yielded a crop of literary riches.

"One might be tempted to call AS GOOD AS GONE a contemporary western if not for its setting some five decades ago, but no matter what genre it might fall under, it has the sense of being an instant classic."

The opening scene of the novel, which is set in the United States in 1963, is classic, a meeting between a father and son who are all but estranged from each other. Bill Sidey is the adult son (I pictured a young Alan Alda) who has come out to an isolated trailer in an otherwise deserted canyon to ask his father, Calvin (Clint Eastwood, as he is currently), a favor. If one looked up the word “taciturn” in the dictionary, I suspect that a picture of Calvin Sidey would be found; so too under the definition of “stand-up,” though that would take a bit more searching, given that Calvin deserted Bill and his sister as children following the untimely death of their mother. The requested favor is that Calvin return to Gladstone, Montana, and take care of Bill’s children while Bill’s wife, Marjorie, undergoes surgery in Missoula.

Calvin’s grandchildren are practically strangers to him, but Ann, a 17-year-old beauty, and Will, on the cusp of adolescence, are dealing with situations of which their parents are unaware. Calvin is loathe to return to Gladstone and the memories it holds of his late wife. At the same time, he feels like a stranger in the town that he had a strong hand in developing, if not outright creating, some two decades prior, even as it continues to bear his stamp in many ways. However, Calvin still does what he does and slowly begins to butt heads with situations that are handled somewhat differently, if not more effectively, at the cusp of the so-called modern era.

Ann’s problems are coming to a boil, as a young woman’s problems often do, while Will’s are on a slow simmer that lead to an unexpected and unintended denouement, as Calvin interjects himself with the best of intent. There is some interesting symmetry here on a number of fronts. The ending is a quiet and subtle emotional explosion that, on due reflection, is prefigured from the book’s beginning.

Watson, my friends, is a master. One might be tempted to call AS GOOD AS GONE a contemporary western if not for its setting some five decades ago, but no matter what genre it might fall under, it has the sense of being an instant classic. Read it --- Watson’s prose moves --- and see if you don’t agree.