Quentin Corn: 11/20/20

Quentin Corn by Mary Stolz was released when I was twelve, and although I read other novels by Stolz, I only heard of this book as an adult. Quentin is a pig who decides to run away from the farm when he learns his fate is to be eaten.

Quentin steals some clothing off a line and starts to walk upright. From the clues in the narrative, he's a contemporary of Freddy the Pig. But Quentin has a lot more to learn about humankind and how to live like one.

Most of the book is about how Quentin tries to settle into his new life. He lives at a boarding house. He works for a fix-it man. He joins the church choir. And he's betrayed.

The language in this novel is weirdly stilted. Some of it might be a reflection of Quentin's status as an outsider. Some of it is an attempt to capture the olden days. Regardless, the text is awkward and off-putting.

Quentin's story, while odd, does fit into the road narrative spectrum. Quentin while masquerading as a human wants to protect his new friends and neighbors. But deep down, though, he fears he'll be perceived as a freak or a monster if his secret is revealed. Quentin, thus, is both a scarecrow (protector) and a minotaur (prisoner) (99).

His entire journey is in a rural setting (33). He leaves a farm and goes into the nearby town. It's still an area defined by the natural landscape.

His journey is primarily offroad, though there is a brief jaunt in an automobile at the start of his flight from the farm. The rest though is through fields and forests (66).

To summarize, Quentin Corn is about a scarecrow/minotaur going to a rural place via an offroad route.

Three stars

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