Every month at St. Pete’s Tavern in rugged western Montana, a meeting is convened by the Basic Bigfoot Society’s members—both of them. Jute and Vergil are lifelong friends, bound by an affinity for the elusive North American Wood Ape. Their monthly meetings and annual expeditions are a tradition that keep their friendship alive when so much else about their small town has fallen away.
But things are about to get exciting for the Basic Bigfoot Society. Dr. Marcus Bernard, the country’s foremost Bigfoot “expert,” approaches them with a proposition that seems almost too good to be true: to join their next expedition, along with an ambitious young documentarian, Vicky Xu. Thankfully, Vergil’s daughter Rye is home from college, and decides to tag along in order to make sure her dad and Jute aren’t made fools of. Once in the woods, strange things begin to happen to them that seem to defy rational explanation. Is this a hoax? Or are they on the precipice of the greatest anthropological discovery ever?

IN A NUTSHELL
If you’re in the mood for a novel with a little bit of magic, in which nice people contemplate the nature of belief and the bonds of family while on a mildy tense quest for Bigfoot in the Montana wilderness, ‘American Mythology’ will give you what you need. I liked some of the ideas on the nature of belief but the people and the story were too nice to hold my interest.

This is how ‘American Mythology‘ was marketed:

“A charming and comic debut novel about a quirky ensemble embarking on an epic quest to find Bigfoot.”

“American Mythology is a riveting, big-hearted novel about a group of pilgrims who encounter both the mysteries of nature and ultimately those of the human heart. Giano Cromley has given us a much-needed reminder that, if sought, wonder may yet be found in our world.”—Ron Rash, author of The Caretaker“

Reading this, I expected an eccentric comic adventure story about the search for Bigfoot. What I got was something much gentler, more sentimental and more reflective than that. 

The story is told in a slow, pull up a chair on the porch, get yourself situated and sit awhile style that I found quite relaxing. It’s the kind of style that signals to the reader that they need to listen for the lesson in the story and not just the plot; that things are going to move slowly, but that’s OK because good things take a while.

This is a story about four nice people and one person who, over time, has become someone who is no longer nice, searching for Bigfoot. Not a metaphorical Bigfoot, an actual Bigfoot that one member of the party has a traumatic childhood memory of almost encountering in the mountains of Montana. It’s also a story about the nature of belief: how it differs from knowledge and how it has the power to illuminate the imagination and make the world a more magical place. I thought the approach to belief was signalled early in the book when the two members of the Basic Big Foot Society were considering the peculiar stained glass window in the only bar in Basic, Montana:

“No one left alive in Basic today could verify the window’s origin though. Like all myths, this one became history the moment enough people chose to believe it.”

It’s a story about how you build your identity. It considers how small towns conspire unconsciously to prevent you from becoming someone different from the person you were in school, how friendships and family relationships can help or hinder us in becoming who we are meant to be. It reflects on how who we are can be shaped by having a purpose, a passion to pursue, especially if there is someone to share the passion/purpose with.

It has a broadly quest-based plot, seeded with magical elements, set against spectacular natural beauty and with occasional moments of tension that put the main characters at risk.

Fundamentally, this is a nice book, full of uplifting ideas and relationships. Sadly, I’m not as nice as the book and there were times when I grew a little bored with it. Perhaps it was the meandering pace but I think it was mostly just too wholesome for me.

Lee Osorio’s narration was easy on the ear and matched the relaxed tone of the prose. Click on the Youtube link below to hear a sample.