For some reason, this novel reminds me of a couple of other books about independent women, The Beans of Egypt Maine and Bastard Out of South Carolina, both popular in the 80's, 1980's that is and written by women. Both have hard headed, single minded woman, much in tune with the natural world, like the heroine in this story, Maggie or Margot Crane, seventeen years plus, who lives with her Mom and Dad at first, till the Mom ups and runs off and her father ends up getting shot for accusing their neighbor Cal of raping Maggie (which he did sort of) though Maggie isn't even sure herself. Set in poor and rural Michigan, Maggie lights out on her own(just 30 miles or so down the river), like Huck, ends up living on a raft, making friends with a number of men, some with whom she sleeps and conceives a child, others whom, like Huck's Jim, end up befriending her and loving her for what she is, a natural woman.
Her heroine is Annie Oakley and she models her life after her story, becoming an expert sharpshooter and basically making it on her own, without the need of any man, though she's attracted to them. The novel follows her travels, first attempts to survive without a family, then find her Mom, then finally realize that she must make it on her own, that she cannot depend on others. Others do help her, though not family, and they end up her being her best friends, especially Smoke, an old curmudgeon, dying of cancer, who sells her his houseboat for 100 bucks(and deeds her his house when he dies) and his friend, Fishbone, a black man who is Smoke's best friend. She finally finds peace and herself, alone, on this boat, anchored off a neighbor's farm. For an eighteen year old, she's mature beyond her years, with a skill and ability to survive that dwarfs most of us.
Not a great book but a good read, as you cannot help but like Margo Crane, sympathize with her mistakes, admire her determination to be her own women, and enjoy, as she does, her tentative connections with others.
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