Farmers don't believe in luck.
..". Early spring, out from beyond Bozeman with four hundred dollars, a couple of fishing poles, and a suitcase stuffed with year-old work clothes, Sam Lawrence was driving his car along the straight, flat highway stretching west from Spokane. It was about noon when he first saw Gainesville..."
When Sam pulled off the highway, he only thought he'd be getting a hamburger ....
Searching, romantic and profoundly rooted in the clear-eyed tradition of the American novel, Outside Man captures the impulses, wills, doubts and dreams of independent spirits. A strong, naturalistic style forges memorable dialogue and unforgettable characters: Harley and Sally Petersen and their two sons, Dan and Carl, whose rivalries eventually engulf everyone else, from Marilyn, the town's tragic beauty, to the lively and unattached Ruth and Sue, to Lonnie, a bartender who sees what she wants to see, and ultimately: Sam. The story, told with prose both stark and lyrical giving rise to passages of mesmerizing beauty, is a classic tale of love and luck, whether good or bad, self-invention, and the inescapable decisions fate imposes.