The Life and Times of Homer Sincere Whose Amazing Adventures are Documented by His True and Trusted Friend Rigby Canfield

The Life and Times of Homer Sincere Whose Amazing Adventures are Documented by His True and Trusted Friend Rigby Canfield
Nathaniel Lande
Overlook, May 13 2020, $25.95
ISBN: 9781590203286

In 1946 in the French Quarter of New Orleans preadolescents Rigby Canfield and polio-stricken Homer Sincere meet over a game of marbles. The two youngsters become friends although the former comes from affluence and the polio-stricken tweener comes from poverty. They soon begin filming their neighborhood with an 8mm camera.

When Homer’s mother dies, he is dispatched to La Vielle Maisona foster home run by Father Rivage. An ex-con, the Father funds the facility with art forgeries and cider sales. He gets intelligent Homer interested in the classics and encouraging the lad to become a “Soldier of the Word.”

The two friends meet again in Manhattan when both obtain work at Time-Life. However as they travel the world, they fall in love with the same woman Daisy, but their first dream of Hollywood filmmaking remains strong and binds them together.

This is an interesting slice of Life that uses real persona and events to anchor time and place, but stars two intriguing lead characters and to a lesser degree the woman who loves both of them. The historical Americana tale is driven totally by Rigby and Homer, though the former tells the tale of how extraordinary the latter, best friends forever, was. Although the story line never fully gels as in many ways it feels more like vignettes, fans will relish Rigby Canfield’s biographical fictional account of his BFF.

Harriet Klausner