Description
Set on a small and struggling family dairy operation in southern Minnesota, The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen follows fifteen-year-old Carl as he confronts his crush on Andy Olnan, a handsome and confident but secretive “city boy” recently transplanted to farm life from Minneapolis, who may or may not share the same feelings. At the same time, Carl and his father clash over the future of their farm, a legacy of Carl’s late mother: how do they honor her dream for the family while also ensuring financial security? Carl discovers his own resilience in the face of grief, adult-sized decisions, and unrequited love, and along the way learns to cope with both the challenges and rewards of being different.
Praise for The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen
“In this engrossing coming of age story, Carl, a teenager living with his family on a Minnesota dairy farm grapples with first love, the loss of his mother, and his distanced relationship with his father. Peter’s intimate and nuanced portrayal of Carl’s romantic feelings for the charismatic and mysterious new student, Andy, and the hopes Carl has for a more authentic connection with those around him is deeply honest and endearing. An inspiring story about the courage it takes to be your whole self no matter what.”
– Veera Hiranandani, author of the Newbery Honor winning The Night Diary
“Carl Paulsen wants to belong to this world, broken though it may be. There is a magic in this book, magic that makes us feel we are in this young man’s heart as he struggles to find his place in the world. The words shimmer with gentle, heartbreaking empathy. The result is a beautiful piece of fiction, sure to make anyone who reads it feel less alone.”
– N. West Moss, author of Flesh and Blood and The Subway Stops at Bryant Park
“With insight and grace, Gary Eldon Peter explores the big questions: Who am I? Who will I be? And who will I let truly know me? This novel’s gentleness is underlain with the absolute determination of a quiet teenager’s quest for self-identity.”
– Alison McGhee, author of Where We Are and What I Leave Behind
“Meet Carl Paulsen – he’s not rich, urban, or ‘fabulous.’ He’s a farm boy devoted to his cows, his younger sister, and his widowed father (in that order). When Carl meets Andy Olnan, the new boy in town, everything suddenly changes, just like that moment in West Side Story when Maria meets Tony. I absolutely loved this fresh, unpredictable, and heartrending-but-hopeful book. Funny, sad, closeted farm kid Carl Paulsen is my new best friend.”
– Brian Malloy, author of The Year of Ice and After Francesco
R. L. “Pete” Peterson –
To say that Gary Eldon Peter knows the territory of his debut novel, “The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen” is kinda trite. The ‘voice’ he maintains and the insights he provides removes all doubt- here’s a professional writer doing what he does best – telling a damn good story. Carl, the protagonist, is like any Wisconsin farm boy, smart, charming, opinionated. And gay.
The angst and joy of growing up in rural America is obvious from the first, as in this exchange where Carl speaks of cell phones. “I don’t have a cell phone and will probably never get one unless I talk my father into joining the twenty-first century or I find some way to pay for it myself. As a former high school English teacher he is very concerned about such things, and I should be too because some day, he says, the world would belong to me.”
Carl’s world is that of a dairy farm and if any one works harder that a dairy farmer, they’re too tired to brag about it. Yes, at times Carl’s terrain seems limited to that of his three-year-old sister, his mother’s untimely death, awkward silences between him and his father, his cows and chores, chores, chores. And worry that he is the only gay dairy farmer ever and how does he come out to his father, and to society in general. Then the new kid shows up, beautiful with his clean cowboy boots, perfect tee shirt, lithe body, and blue green eyes.
But, this isn’t a book about a gay romance, and this is not Peter’s first rodeo. Yes, Carl is harassed by handsome bully Kent, and the ‘new’ guy rescues Carl, but this novel is more than a recitation on the price of being different. This is a captivating read about high school in a small town – it’s cliches, the importance of doing things the same way forever – farming and raising cows and dealing with a reticent father who thinks growing row crops is the next big thing and family responsibilities and friendship. There’s a lovely scene where Carl and the ‘new’ guy eat lunch on the school lawn, the smell of manure wafting in the breeze, and it works. In this novel, words shimmer, characters sparkle, dialogue informs, and the reader learns that acceptance by society begins with acceptance of one’s self.
Great books like this one written by great writers like Gary Eldon Peter are why Regal House Publishing was recently named Publisher of the Year by Foreword INDIES