Book Review

Goodnight, Texas

Goodnight, Texas by William J. Cobb, published by Unbridled Books

Reviewed by Mike Shea

October 2006

Buy it at BookPeople

The citizens of WILLIAM J. COBB’s GOODNIGHT, TEXAS know hard times have reached their Gulf fishing town. The rising sea is flooding homes. Shrimp boats return to port empty; their owners give up and leave them docked. A humongous stuffed zebra fish with a horse in its mouth, newly hoisted atop the Black Tooth Café, offers hope in the form of tourist dollars—reporters, vacationers, and even the governor are drawn to the spectacle—but gloom sets in again when Hurricane Tanya starts gathering offshore, threatening to pummel homes and businesses. Much coupling happens in little Goodnight—Hispano-Vietnamese waitress Una Vu takes up with expelled high schooler Falk Powell, while her former beau, Gabriel Perez, explores the seats of his school bus with too-young Leesha, and so on—but everything stops when the storm hits, bringing hell and, predictably, redemption. Goodnight, Texas is quirky and likable: The forecast calls for charming with occasional funny.

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