On the 7th Day God Created the Chevrolet

by Sylvia Wilkinson

Overview

Tom Pate can't leave the family farm behind fast enough. Drag racing his candy-apple-red 1955 Chevy Bel Air is just the first step in a journey that will lead him far from home in his search for a bigger track, a better ride, and a better, faster future. Tom's younger brother Zack tries desperately to keep up with this man whose talent involves leaving people behind. Set in the 1960s--with racial tensions running high and Vietnam War starting to make demands on the lives of young men--On the 7th Day God Created the Chevrolet is a story that pits the safe haven of farm and family against a young man's best shot at glory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616202361
Publisher:	Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date:	01/01/2013
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	424
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Sylvia Wilkinson is the author of five previous novels and a series of racing books for young readers. She is also the author of two nonfiction books on racing. She was born and raised in North Carolina.

Editorial Reviews

The Chevrolet in question is not the family car that Dinah Shore exhorted Americans to use to see the U.S.A. but a gaudy, souped-up, candy-red and pearl-white devil destined for the racing circuit. Wilkinson's sixth novel is based on a combination of interviews she did for her oral history of early stock-car racing ( Dirt Tracks to Glory ) and her own experience as a timer for various race teams. Set in rural North Carolina in the early '60s, the novel concerns Tom Pate and his younger brother Zack. Although Tom's obsession with race-car driving is supposedly the primary story, it is Zack and his rich, warm and hardly predictable evolution that is the better one. Lacking a clear plot line, this overly long novel takes the reader around and around, not unlike a race track going nowhere. Wilkinson does occasionally score, as in her hauntingly beautiful description of the death of a young child, his mother's grief and the women who comfort her. The world seen through the eyes of male characters, on the other hand, is typically superficial, although the dialogue is grittily authentic. Unfortunately, what Wilkinson says of one of her characters could be applied to her novel as a whole: ``Words ran out of her mouth like a radio disc jockey who was afraid of a moment of silence. . . .'' Author tour. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Handsome Tom ``Pole Cat'' Pate is a born risk-taker who swims during lightning storms and is hellbent on becoming a race car driver. His homely brother Zack, though less adventurous, follows Tom when he leaves the family farm to lead the North Carolina NASCAR racing life. Largely composed of scenes presenting Tom's pit crew (including Zack as a welder) preparing for races, as well as a secondary story line following the family left behind, the novel suffers from a muddled time frame and the overambitious use of flashbacks. Wilkinson works as a timer for race teams and has previously written Dirt Tracks to Glory (Algonquin Bks., 1983), an oral history of stock-car racing; her copious use of authentic detail will dazzle enthusiasts, but mainstream readers may feel themselves buried under the repetitive, revved-up vignettes. However, libraries serving communities where racing is a major enthusiasm will want to take this out for a test drive.-- Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston

Library Journal