Blue Rodeo

Love can be complicated and Jo-Ann Mapson knows this well. Blue rodeo is the touching story of middle-age romance and mother/son relationships played against the dreamily beautiful landscape of Northwestern New Mexico and the traditions of Native Americans. Margaret Yearwood's teenage son, Peter, is left deaf following a serious illness. He is bitter, rejecting his mother, opting for life at a boarding school, and living with a deaf foster family. Rendered desolate by her son's refusal to see her and a divorce, attempts to rebuild her life by leaving California and renting a farm house in the isolated community of Blue Dog, where she is within driving distance of Peter's school. Margaret's neighbor, Owen Garrett, is the quintessential Western hero - rough, touch with a heart of gold. He, too, has not had an easy life. His past includes a bout with alcoholism and an accidental murder. Of course, they find comfort in each other, and Peter eventually comes to terms with his hearing loss. Mapson knows of what she writes and more than fulfills all the promise of her first novel, Hank & Chloe. This is a story of hope and renewal movingly told. - Gail Cooke

I found this book in the bargain bin at one of the local bookstores. I'm not overly fond of romances but I do enjoy rodeos so, for a quarter, I felt like I had nothing to lose. However what I gained from reading Jo-Ann Mapson's Blue Rodeo was much more than a contemporary romance; I found a deeply written novel of art, spirit, truth, change, and yes, love. Margaret Yearwood thinks she has reached the bottom. Her marriage to Ray Sweetwater has crumbled. Her son Peter has been left deaf after nearly dying from a bout with meningitis due to a truant outing. When Peter decides that he wants to immerse himself in the deaf culture, the only way to do so is by living in a boarding school and residing with a foster couple who are also deaf. Only problem is that they live in California and this facility is in New Mexico. Peter's defiance and need to cut the apron strings tears at Margaret's heart. This tears Margaret to the quick as she had given up grad school to have a home and a family. To abide by the residency requirements, Margaret gives up a life of luxury and comfort, which includes a waterfront home and a sailboat, to try and put down roots in Blue Dog. Since she'll do just about anything to be part of her son's life, she rents an old farmhouse. Her nearest neighbor is a fifty- two sheep rancher, Owen Garrett, with a past he's running from and secret that haunts his every fiber. There in the desert, the art and creative nature that Margaret has so long tried to deny. "But what came to her now as she lay in bed was another shock, strangely related. For years, she had shunted aside brief, awkward glimpses, peter's going deaf had provided her with an understanding of the reason she abandoned art when she married Raymond. It wasn't about Ray's insistence that she stay home and devote herself to having his babies, a decision she'd ultimately embraced as sensible and desirable. When Peter went away she could no couch her excuses under the heading of motherhood. Art took time away from other things, certainly, but creativity was a state of mind you fertilized and tended, not something you made room for." So she started painting again, learning the true value of the heart's inner passion as well as the physical passion that Own re-ignited in the love-staved woman. First, with both the art and Owen, her strokes are safe. But soon she learns that as she delves into the sunshine, so must she step into the heart's darkness to really love and create. I found Blue Rodeo spoke to my creative soul much more than my romantic one. Unlike most romance novels, Blue Rodeo has a surprise ending that left me feeling hopeful.

The voice of this book reached down somewhere to the vicinity of my toes and pulled me exquisitely inside-out. Although coming late to the reading of it, I'm thankful that this book did not escape my attention completely. "Blue Rodeo" is a quietly powerful story of the human connections it is possible to make even after the profound hurt brought about by doors slammed shut on past connections. By the simple but sometimes terrifying act of reaching out, the characters go on with life in ways they never imagined.Jo-Ann Mapson is so very wise in her understanding of the dynamics of human interaction. Her ability to speak through her characters and create them fully-formed in the reader's imagination is humbling, to say the least. Convincing and natural dialogue is the toughest part of good writing, but Ms. Mapson has succeeded brilliantly. The growing love between Maggie and Owen is described in the most subtly erotic language it has been my pleasure to read. In musing on his failed marriage and the lack of passion he had experienced, Owen thinks about the nature of desire: "In a motel room or on a patch of soft ground, desire lay somewhere between two people, didn't it, a tiny invisible vapor that probably entered the body someplace unlikely, like the ears or the the feet, charged its way into your heart and blood, and made you brave..."An important part of the book deals with the realities of life for the Navajo community. Although generally steeped in poverty, the Navajo citizens of the reservation near Blue Dog carry on with their lives, love their children, and continue their traditions in meaningful ways. The problem of racism is not glossed over, but presented as naked and ugly fact. There is no "noble savage" treatment here, just real people succeeding or not with what life has dealt them. Maggie and Owen's friendships among the Navajos show the joyful possibilities of being open to experiences outside one's perceived borders.Maggie's attempts to reconnect with the son who has lost his hearing make for some of the most poignant moments of the book. Unable to direct his rage at any one person or thing, Peter has isolated himself inside his non-hearing world and rejects all the the helping hands held out to him. Remembering the most satisfying way she was able to communicate emotionally with him as a child, Maggie gradually begins to break through the walls he has built.Whether she is telling us about the love between man and woman, mother and child, or friend to friend, the author does so in an utterly soul-touching and breathtaking way. Her wry humor graces almost every page. My heartfelt thanks to the friend who directed me to this book -- I'm blowing you a kiss on the cheek!

I think I liked BLUE RODEO better than THE WILDER SISTERS, and that's saying something. I absolutely and emphatically disagree with the review by the woman who said Mapson repeated things too many times. As an author myself, I know good writing, and this book is filled with great writing from an extremely gifted writer. I took it along with me on vacation, and I liked it so much I found myself anxious to get back to the hotel in the afternoons so I could read more. I especially loved the relationship between Margaret and her son and the way it developed over the course of the story. I'm now hooked on Ms. Mapson's writing and am looking forward to reading SHADOW RANCH, which is next on my TBR shelf.

This is Mapson's best. Each character is multi-dimensional, emotionally complex and just plain interesting -- they develop and grow over the course of the story, which is plausible and well thought out. An enjoyable read; I was sorry when I reached the last page. I've recommended this one to many people!