Audiobook Review: Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Genre: Adult Historical Fiction/Audiobook

Pub. Date: September 2, 2025

Publisher: Random House Audio

Source: Personal Copy

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

 

 

Goodreads says, "In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.

Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness."

 

It's 1939 in Bonhomie, Ohio, a small town that hasn't changed in years. Cal Jenkins runs his father-in-law's hardware store and is married to Becky, a local girl he's known for years. They have a son, Skip, and life is pretty hunky-dory, except for the fact that Becky holds seances in their home. She can communicate with the dead, and this puts a wedge in their marriage. Plus, Cal is dealing with the guilt that, as WWII approaches, he can't enlist as he has an orthopedic condition. This brings him great shame that he carries for years. Margaret and Felix Salt move to town from the big city due to Felix's work, and Margaret acclimates to the mundane small-town life. She has her own bag of trauma from her childhood, as she was pushed around from orphanage to foster homes. Felix, on the other hand, has been questioning his sexual identity for years, and this plagues him daily. With the war booming, he decides to enlist in the Navy and is sent to a cargo ship in the Pacific. As the years go by, Margaret must learn to deal with life in Bonhomie without him. On VE Day, Margaret hears on the hardware store's radio that the war is over, and in a moment of passion, kisses Cal. This sparks an affair that will reverberate through the years. The story follows the Jenkins family through the years - through postwar America, and the upcoming Vietnam War, and how that impacts their son, Skip's life. Margaret and Felix have a son of their own, and while younger than Skip, they cross paths with each other in the neighborhood, and they become friends. Cue the awkwardness! As another war looms on the horizon, it will impact these two families who are bonded together through secrets. Patrick Ryan's Buckeye is such a moving audiobook and one of my favorites of the year. It's heartfelt, desperately sad, emotionally charged, devastating, but beautiful - much like life.
 
I loved how Ryan developed these characters in Buckeye. I thought it was a masterclass on character development. He makes each character unique and tragically flawed, but I found myself sympathetic towards every one of them, showing no favorites, which is unusual for a novel of this type. Each character is grappling with a sort of problem. Cal has guilt about not being able to serve his country, Margaret has childhood trauma that bleeds into her marriage, Becky has an unusual ability which makes things difficult for her socially and in her marriage, and Felix is dealing with sexual identity issues and the guilt surrounding that, as the 30s were not very accepting, not to mention his parents definitely aren't. So he has to hide that part of himself, which is heartbreaking. 
 
The war transformed Felix in countless ways, and I believe Ryan did an excellent job of illustrating how the war affects not only the soldiers but also the families and communities left behind. Ryan effectively addresses the onset of World War II, the experiences during the war, post-war America, and the Vietnam War. He portrayed these historical periods in America with great accuracy and also captured the essence of small-town life and war's impact on the communities.

I have never read a novel by Ryan before, so I am very glad I listened to Buckeye. Ryan's writing resonated with me; many parts were poignant, thought-provoking, and beautiful. I rarely tear up while reading, but Buckeye made me tear up multiple times. I genuinely cared for these tragically flawed characters, and I will remember their story for a long time.
 
The audiobook was narrated by Michael Crouch and it was outstanding. If you are an audiobook fan, I highly recommend it. Have you read Buckeye? This would be a great book for a book club, as it lends itself to great discussion topics. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.