Made in the U.S.A.

by Billie Letts

Lutie and Fate McFee have been dealt a less than great hand: their father abandoned them, and the woman taking care of them has just dropped dead in the Walmart. What's a teenager and her younger brother to do?

Afraid of being separated and put into foster care, the two hit the road. They're heading for Las Vegas, which is where their father lives. They don't have much money, and you can already imagine what happens to the hapless youths. The Las Vegas experience is as awful as you could imagine it to be. I found myself dreading Lutie's next move, as everything she did was the absolute wrong thing to do.

Because it is a novel by Letts, Lutie will find redemption, but it comes about in the strangest way ever. In fact, the story really veers into the territory of improbable.

I was really disappointed with this one.

11/16/08