PEOPLE ALONG THE SAND

A small coastal Oregon community in the 1960s grapples with a proposed law to make the beaches public land in this novel.

In the tiny hamlet of Kalapuya, The Wave motel is the only place to stay. Kalapuya’s winters are dark; the air is misty; and the wind is so strong it’s hard to stand up straight. But the few local residents who try to eke out a living from the sparse tourism are inextricably tied to the village. Marilyn and Jackson Ryder own the motel but are at odds about an expansion that she thinks they don’t need and can’t afford. Leah Tolman, a baker, is a proponent of a new bill in the state legislature that will make all the beaches public property. Elliot Yager, an aging lighthouse keeper, is opposed and does not want strangers tramping around on his land. While issues like the Vietnam War hang over the characters’ heads, highly local topics about Kalapuya dominate the discussions. It’s a curious place to live (“What’s wrong with us, Marilyn asked, to live here year-round?”), but the residents have caves to explore, colorful agates to collect, and their own pseudo geyser, Little Faithful, to enjoy. The strain of the business troubles, though, begins to peck away at folks’ relationships, and Marilyn and Jackson’s son, Tim, disappears, adding another layer of problems to an already burdened community. King’s novel is beautifully immersed in the marvels of the bleak and moody landscape and develops the characters enough to give insights into their reasons for wanting to remain in this difficult place. The consequential time period, with the new law’s approval in the balance, makes every business and personal decision by the characters a meaningful one. There is a fluidity to the writing that sometimes works well, but in other instances, it results in a welter of names in a paragraph or thoughts that change direction quickly, making the narrative hard to follow.

A revealing and contemplative tale about people tied to a wondrous, harsh landscape.