Goad of Honor
“A great story about a four-generation dynasty created by a German immigrant about 1850 and how the great-grandson uncovers the illegal operations during the 1920-33 prohibition era. But it is a joke for the founding father was the illegitimate son of an aristocratic European family. His progeny prosper, entering into Saint Louis high society, but that, too, is a joke for they are the descendants of an unidentified French Canadian voyager. (Should you be interested in a follow up, be sure to get the second edition, it has an image o f the distilery on the cover. The first edition is still available on Amazon and about a zillion bookstores that advertise through Amazon.)
The tag line on the cover page is: “In the game of life, the rich get richer despite themselves; the rest struggle on, dying in war, going to jail, making their way against the odds.”
But there’s more, much more, hidden behind this axiom. Who are they? And how did they get in this mess. Rather than tout my own horn, an appreciation follows written by John and Linda Lipman, folks I don’t know and have never met. Here’s their take on the book.
QUOTE: Goad of Honor surprised us in several ways. We hadn’t realized how central to the story the distillery would be, or how uncannily the book describes the family owned distillery business of the thirties and before. So pointedly, in fact, that we wonder if some of the characters represent real people in the whiskey business.
We associate several passages in the book with Steinbeck. For example, the characters introduced early in the book with coarse outlines and broad strokes have simple and clear relationships that seem to make the story predictable. Then, in a later section, two or three appear in another relationship as the plot twists and we learn more about them. The details and shades of color become richer, and our view of each character changes. When all have thus been fleshed out, another section of the book begins and the relationships alter, with even more detail revealed.
We think Byers’ work more sophisticated than he allows in his outline where he refers to Goad of Honor as a story of three young men and their challenges. Well, of course it is that, but the real pleasure of this book lies in developing characters with supporting roles who portray insightful people in real life situations. Jakob’s alleged great-grandfather who built the distillery one stone at a time; his adopted son who took over and made a business of it; his grandson, inspired by his grandfather’s craft and terrorized by the reality of management during those troubled times. These characters, and many others, contain much of the real power of this novel. Benny Gray Rock is far more than just Roger’s dad. As his character develops, Benny changes from a stereotype sadistic thug to a gentle giant, the change making clear the actions of Gino and Roger.
And then there’s Sophie whose character is different from that of the others. If one complied the characteristics of Roger, Gino, and Jakob into a single character, Sophie would represent the exact opposite. Our image of her changes and enriches at a constant rate, not in plateaus the way the others develop, but from beginning to end her character gains complexity, while remaining steadfast in her convictions. Sophie is the star of the novel, seen only in a supporting role, but that’s how it was with strong women in the thirties. And Sophie captures that theme.
Only one other book of fiction we know centers around the whiskey distilling industry; Red Likker published in 1929 by Irvin S. Cobb. A humorist like Wodehouse, Red Likker may be Cobb’s only work of serious fiction. It follows generations of a Kentucky distilling family from the late 18th century, through the Civil War, and on to Prohibition. It has become a cult classic among American whiskey aficionados. We think Goad of Honor deserves to be its companion work. They should sit side by side on the bookshelf of those who want to know the story of American whiskey. ... John and Linda Lipman. UNQUOTE
It's available at http://www.booksbybyers.us, Amazon Kindle ebook and I guess a bunch of bookstores I don't know.
