4/5 When Gulf Coast Reads (GCR) announced they selected Justin Deabler’s Lone Stars as their 2022 book, I imagined I might read this novel. The GCR designation led Lone Stars to becoming the book club read for October. The title tipped me off that this book likely took place mostly in Texas. While I decided against counting this towards any of my Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC) this year, this book works well as parts take place in the latter part of the Twentieth Century as well as the 2000s. So if you’re seeking something for the Set in the Day SRC, you might want to check this out, Gnomies.
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“Lone Stars follows the arc of four generations of a Texan family in a changing America. Julian Warner, a father at last, wrestles with a question his husband posed: what will you tell our son about the people you came from, now that they’re gone? Finding the answers takes Julian back in time to Eisenhower’s immigration border raids, an epistolary love affair during the Vietnam War, crumbling marriages, queer migrations to Cambridge and New York, up to the disorienting polarization of Obama’s second term. And in these answers lies a hope: that by uncloseting ourselves–as immigrants, smart women, gay people–we find power in empathy.”
I knew early on in my reading of Lone Stars that Deabler and his main character, Julian Warner, were around my age and that his parents, Lacy and Aaron, were contemporary to my own mom and dad. I found this both a realistic and relatable read. A few things threw me, such as name changes for the bedroom community where Julian grew up and not being informed of when certain events took place. In some ways, things seemed neatly tied up while others loosely dangled to the point of wondering about a sequel. I liked the family saga and the genealogical bents of Lone Stars but I wanted Julian to learn a little more about his roots.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Starry Night Elf 
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