Dust by Arthur Slade
Dust is a novel that takes place in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl in a small town in Canada called Horshoe. The story begins with a seven-year-old boy named Matthew walking to town alone. He accepts a ride from a mysterious stranger and is ultimately kidnapped. His older brother Robert, the protagonist of the story, and his parents are frantic and overcome with grief of their missing son. A few days after the disappearance, a man comes to town claiming he can control the weather; the town must simply work together to build a rain mill. The adults excitedly sign up and begin work on the mill and in due course start to forget everything. Robert’s parents even forget about the disappearance of Matthew. Robert is the only one who remembers his brother and begins to be concerned about the strange nature of so many of the town folk. Near the end of the novel, he puts the pieces together and discovers the incredible secret the man is hiding and only he can put a stop to it.
This story initially appealed to me because of the time period; I love fictional novels that discuss the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl because it addresses historical events in conjunction with fictional characters and plots. Generally during this time in history, novels will center on a developmental protagonist that changes and molds into a great man or woman based on their experiences. Robert, the main character of Dust, undergoes an extreme change: child to adult. In the beginning of the novel, the reader is given an image of Robert in bed reading a science fiction book and imagining he is on a foreign planet. As the story progresses, he slowly begins to transform. Because of the negligent and dreamy-minded adults, he feels like he is the only one who has his mind in the right place. It’s almost as if the adults have become children, so focused on one thing, the rain mill, and Robert is noticing the big picture and how it is affecting many lives.
The novel has a supernatural twist despite the familiar time period. Upon learning this, I was slightly skeptic since my original expectations of a historical fiction novel would not be completely accurate. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the way Arthur Slade mixed the Dust Bowl with the unique idea of a rain mill. The mysterious man who came into town seemed to put an enchantment over the town simply by saying he knew how to bring rain into the dry town. Many of the adults act curiously which makes Robert uneasy about the man and his intentions.
Overall it was a very good novel; it had a simple plot line and was a pleasant read. Dust had a way of captivating its audience simply because of its unique idea. Arthur Slade’s writing is creative and skillful and at times eerie as he embellishes the mysterious happenings of Horshoe
3out of 4 Stars
-Alisa Day
