Book Notes | ‘Buckeye’ by Patrick Ryan
The novel chronicles the lives of three generations of two families living in Bonhomie, Ohio, in the mid 20th-century. Midway through the book, the reader learns that the two families are connected in a most unusual way.
The book is well written. The main characters are well developed; I felt that I really knew and understood them. The book was a "page turner," often requiring me to stop reading because it was way past time to go to bed.
However, the book made me feel sad at almost every reading. It described a little girl growing up as an orphan with no family to love and support her; a gay man in 1940s America feeling that something was terribly wrong with him; the horror aboard a Navy ship hit and sunk by a torpedo in World War II; and the death of a son in Vietnam.
I thought the saddest moment in the book came when a mother—a main character in the book—abandoned her 8-year-old son, driving away without looking at him or speaking to him.
If you are feeling too happy with your life and want to break that mood, I recommend this book. Otherwise, I do not.
Other members of the book club were more positive about Buckeye. Many liked it.
—John Bantle, UMRA Book Club I
‘Buckeye’ by Patrick Ryan
Fri, Aug 21, 2026, 2pm
UMRA’s Book Club I will discuss Buckeye by Patrick Ryan when it meets via Zoom at 2 pm. on Friday, August 21.
The book is Ryan’s first and is 450 pages long. The main characters are two ordinary married couples living in a small town in Ohio. The time period covered spans World War II to 1980.
It is a deeply human novel that focuses on the interior lives of the characters rather than the outward plot. Definitely not a fast-paced thriller, it is nevertheless full of secrets, lies, regrets, and deceptions.
Email Pat Tollefson at [email protected] to learn more.
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