An ambitious “coming of age” story whose heroine doesn’t seem to learn or grow much.
Scout’s Honor tells the story of a southern girl, apple-cheeked tomboy Scout Elizabeth Webb, as she grows up in a small North Carolina town. Scout is named after the heroine of To Kill a Mockingbird, her mother’s favorite book, and there are numerous references to it (including a dog named Boo), but in fact there are few similarities other than the southern small-town setting. The modern Scout, whom the narrative follows from age 14 through her mid-30s, repeats the same mistake of falling in love with older, married men twice — and almost a third time — while remaining “just friends” with the boy who’s her true soulmate. Told from multiple points of view, with several charming and interesting characters, the story takes Scout from summer camp, through high school and college, and into adulthood and motherhood. The plot is full of twists and turns, and the rapidly switching points of view keep the story moving snappily along, although it also skips over chunks of time. The epilogue supplies a satisfyingly happy ending.
Scout’s Honor is an ambitious “coming of age” story whose heroine doesn’t seem to learn or grow much until the epilogue. The book is unfortunately less engaging than it could have been, because the multiple narrators often seem to be summarizing rather than painting a picture, and the motivation for their actions isn’t always clear. The novel’s most vivid passages are Scout’s ill-fated romantic interludes with beautiful men, which makes the reader wonder if the author would be better suited to writing steamy romance novels. The book also would have benefitted from tighter editing; there are occasional distracting errors such as “Santa Clause.” This debut novel tries to tackle weighty themes of morality and faith, but the lightweight treatment makes it more suitable for beach reading.
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