I have just finished “Falling Onto Cotton” by Matthew Wheeler. It releases on 9/8/2020, telling the parallel stories of Chance and Winnie, both flailing as they cope with life in the wake of loss. For teenage Winnie, it’s his dad. For Chance, it’s his fiance, gunned down by mob violence years prior.
The setting is urban Milwaukee in the late 1980’s, and there’s no doubt that author Matthew Wheeler has spent time there. The gritty neighborhoods come roaring to life through Wheeler’s prose. Wheeler also resurrects the 1980’s in a visceral way. The reminders are everywhere, from the descriptions of the cars and the bars, to the song titles he cleverly borrows to title his chapters.
Chance, the nephew of a mob boss, resists the pull of the family and builds a successful restaurant. But he can’t resist the pull of the bottle, or his series of failed superficial relationships.
Winnie is in his late teens and works for Chance as a valet. He is trying to find his way in life and love after the loss of his father. He has no concept of how to connect with his childhood friend Alex romantically. He loves her, but can’t get the nerve to say so.
As the novel opens, Chance gets a new set of problems. His uncle is dying and wants him to take over the family business. If he does, he becomes everything he abhors. If he doesn’t, his uncle’s top man, Frank, who’s been nursing a grudge against Chance for twenty years won’t hesitate to take him out. It doesn’t help that Chance flirts with disaster by sleeping with Frank’s wife.
Chance may not know how to deal with this conundrum, but he can easily distract himself with anyone’s problems but his own. Financially successful, he avoids facing all of it by helping others, particularly his employees and others in the community. He supports a homeless vet with clothing and food. He plays father figure to Winnie. He funds a women’s shelter. But violence is anathema unless he’s threatening the worthless boyfriend of his loyal waitress. Despite his assistance for others, Chance flounders in his personal life. He’s deeply wounded by the loss of his fiance and his missed shot at a singing career, but his successful restaurant, his careless flings, and the booze can’t save him.
This novel is an interesting mash up of Winnie’s coming of age story and Chance’s troubles with the mob. I found it intriguing that we got to see so many sides of Chance. Chance is by turn, a pillar of the community, benevolent, generous, sexy, clueless, ineffectual, and a drunk, as the point of view shifts from character to character.
As Chance’s story plays out, we watch Winnie develop into a courageous young man, strong in ways that Chance can’t seem to match, despite the difference in their age and experience. I had to keep reading to find out if and/or how Chance climbs out of the bottle, and what, if anything, could save him from the clutches of the mob.
If you enjoy an intense character study, Falling Onto Cotton could be the novel for you, especially if the backdrop of the Mafia and/or an enduring nostalgia for the 1980’s grips your soul.
