One for the Road
By David J. Mather
Uno para el camino does not have the same meaning as Frank Sinatra’s “One for My Baby and One More for the Road.” Tom Young, or Don Tomas, as his Chilean friends know him, is a Peace Corps volunteer sent to an impoverished region of Chile to help with reforestation and the building of a road. A recent college graduate from the Boston suburbs Tom’s motives for joining the Corps are not entirely altruistic—he also wants to avoid the Vietnam War and the Peace Corps gets him a draft deferment.
Mr. Mather opens his novel with a scene that tells the reader that One for the Road is about a love story. From there the author shows Don Tomas as a new arrival in rural Chile struggling with the language, the culture, and rustic life style of the Chileans. Through hard work and excellent soccer skills Don Tomas gradually becomes an accepted member of the community.
Don Tomas begins to view his new surroundings as a glimpse into paradise, wonderful people, gorgeous women, and beautiful rivers, mountains and valleys. But Mr. Mather allows the reader to see the dark side of paradise also. Roadside assaults, stolen horses, embezzlement, barroom brawls and stabbings, and an unimaginable crime that requires a family’s revenge.
All in all it is a nice view into a world of our Peace Corps volunteers and a reminder to the reader that while the countryside and the people may look different, we are the same, good and bad, the world over.
