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Loading... Bright's Passage: A Novel (edition 2011)by Josh Ritter (Author)
Work InformationBright's Passage by Josh Ritter
  
None No current Talk conversations about this book.  zot79 | Aug 20, 2023 |    ) kevinkevbo | Jul 14, 2023 |  ) JasonChambers | Dec 16, 2021 |  )1  bugaboo_4 | Jan 3, 2021 | ) kickthebeat | Nov 1, 2020 |
 This is the work of a gifted novelist, but the size of that gift has yet to be determined. One thing that is sure: Ritter has not, as yet, fully unwrapped it.  The debut novel from musician Josh Ritter, a folky singer-songwriter who's been known to sing of angels, is intensely beautiful, tragic and also funny. Bright argues with the angel as if it were his own conscience, or a parent or a protector whose motives are hard to figure. Not surprisingly, the novel displays Ritter’s abundant lyrical gifts. It’s rich in metaphor and surprising moments of humor. But “Bright’s Passage’’ is ultimately a dark parable in the southern Gothic tradition of Cormac McCarthy. But Bright’s Passage succeeds in spite of itself, because Ritter’s ability to evoke a bygone era or a stunning image with a handful of words is as strong as it is in the best of his songs. He’s taken great care to build a fully realized world on the cusp of modernity, and he’s filled it with enigmas worth pondering. If only he’d filled it with a few recognizable human beings as well. Folk-rock singer-songwriter Ritter's first novel is a sometimes fatalistic, sometimes fanciful allegory about Henry Bright, a taciturn Appalachian whose wife dies in childbirth, leaving him with a son whom the angel proclaims the future King of Heaven.
Fiction.
Literature.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:NATIONAL BESTSELLER Henry Bright has newly returned to West Virginia from the battlefields of the First World War. Griefstruck by the death of his young wife and unsure of how to care for the infant son she left behind, Bright is soon confronted by the destruction of the only home heâ??s ever known. His hopes for safety rest with the angel who has followed him to Appalachia from the trenches of France and who now promises to protect him and his son. Haunted by the abiding nightmare of his experiences in the war and shadowed by his dead wifeâ??s father, the Colonel, and his two brutal sons, Brightâ??along with his newbornâ??makes his way through a ravaged landscape toward an uncertain salvation. DONâ??T MISS THE EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOSH RITTER AND NEIL GAIMAN IN THE BACK OF No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.44)
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Wikipedia in English (1)
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After his wife dies in childbirth, Henry Bright is on the run, with his infant son, from both a raging forest fire and his vengeful father-in-law. Along the way, the author weaves in flashbacks to childhood and the war and Henry starts questioning, ever more seriously, the wisdom of the advice offered to him by his 'angel'.
The writing shows that the songwriter/author has some serious storytelling chops. Many passages exude, as one might expect, lyric-like prose. It will be interesting to read his next book. Perhaps it will be longer and more polished, while keeping the heart and song shown in this one. (