A fourteen-year-old boy escapes the claustrophobic 1960s Midwest in pursuit of the unfettered American Dream and a wider selection of footwear in this impressive literary novel.
Henry Cato knows his Mother’s love well. He knows the sting of her switch, the slam of her cellar door, and her generous words of vitriol and admonishments. Governed by the strict religious dogma of his family home, twelve-year-old Henry rebels in the only way his sheltered self knows how: petty theft in the form of his sister’s precious shoes.
Henry’s initial defiance, juvenile and harmless, evolves into a deeper, more perverse fascination. Unlike his fellow paper boy-turned friend, Perry Tuffin, teenage shenanigans fail to fill the gaping shape of a masterfully-crafted shoe. This unremarkable item of wear and tear quickly becomes the sole recipient of Henry’s attention, hypnotizing him as an object of both solace and desire. When Henry peeks at Mrs. Tuffin’s extensive collection, he succumbs to his most feral urge to touch, wear, and indulge in the lustful eroticism of the dramatic, coveted heels.
“While he and the other boys saw a girl’s shoe as a mere prelude to the curve of her calf, an accent to the plume of a skirt and the mystery beneath it…I was looking for a feeling – a specific, structured grace that only a shoe could provide.”
Panicked and sufficiently ashamed, Henry realizes that his stolen moments with dazzling footwear are destined to end under his Mother’s merciless rule. A final sparring match encourages Henry to flee from his lowly hometown in Kansas in search of sanctuary and liberation. Intertwined with an unencumbered, persevering affair with footwear, Henry moves from coast to coast, struggling to come to terms with his own tragedy, misunderstandings, and purpose.
“He knew the shape of my failures, and he was standing squarely within it.”
Inside Henry Cato is a template for effective literary realism with its artfully crafted prose. In the spirit of the 19th- and 20th-century quintessential boy heroes, Henry embodies a similar archetype while achieving comparable goals.
On paper, his misadventures defy societal norms, motivated by his own whims and curiosity. Prying into the text, however, Henry distinguishes himself among the Huckleberry Finns and Tom Sawyers of the book world. Henry is not a trickster or roguish youth, but a wounded artist naturally attuned to his own fluidity, capacity to grow, and disposition to love. His transformation is not driven by glory or admiration but by a desperate yearning to understand himself as the boy shut in the cellar and the man choosing to enter it.
Set in the 60s and 70s, Inside Henry Cato, reflects the era’s broader prejudices and inadequate social safeguards. As a runaway adolescent, Henry’s story unfolds rather predictably, centered around themes of exploitation, disempowerment, violation, and bodily autonomy. While the novel is not excessively graphic, it maintains integrity in its gritty, unembellished storytelling.
“If Mother had ever found her own peace, she could have warned me about predators like this. She could have told me how someone you trusted could betray and violate you. But she hadn’t, and here I was.”
Yet, despite its seriousness, this story has the lingering aftertaste of a feel-good family drama. Henry and his companions face a multitude of trials and tribulations, but they remain intact, their prevailing spirits keeping Henry afloat. Katharine English places each character on either side of a thin, moralistic line, clearly framing them as a commendable friend or disgraceful foe.
Inside Henry Cato maintains a strong throughline,but it is the rich sensory details and clever comparisons in its writing that will keep readers hooked. With a knack for exacting syntax, the author expertly fashions sentences befitting of their illustrative intent. Captive in the middling Midwest, English describes Henry’s family life plainly and harshly with a hint of sparingness. As his horizons expand, eventually witnessing the superfluous luxuries of wealth, his descriptions grow bloated with ornate and loquacious language. This intentionality keeps Henry’s first-person perspective fresh without affecting English’s caliber of writing.
A coming-of-age story set across the United States, Inside Henry Cato captures a particular time in American history of disillusionment and renewed allegiances. Henry and his merry band of misfits reveal the underbelly of a society that was regularly shrouded for its transgressive qualities. Beyond the novel’s avant-garde intrigue, it is structurally sewn together as delicately as Henry’s most intricate shoes. Each word of Inside Henry Cato is calculated and ponderous, tailored to those who select their next read with the same level of deliberateness.
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