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Loading... American Purgatorio: A Novel (edition 2006)by John Haskell
Work InformationAmerican Purgatorio by John Haskell
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) asxz | Mar 13, 2019 |  As he travels, he has various amusing and interesting adventures and encounters, as usual for this type of story. (According to other reviews I looked at, these are a meditation on the seven deadly sins, but I have to admit I never saw that). He also keeps returning in his thoughts to the gas station scene and seeing/remembering/inventing more details and different possibilities. Was she kidnapped? Was there some sort of accident? This is well done, and very intriguing – is he really remembering more/better, or is he becoming more unhinged? It’s not at all clear. By the end, he comes to a resolution of all his questions, which some might find satisfying, but I found extremely unconvincing. I know books don’t have to end the way I want or expect them to, and stories don’t always have to make sense, but this ending was really disappointing. It’s a shame, because I had been enjoying it a lot up until then. I wouldn’t want to put you off, because you might love the ending, and anyway, a lot of the rest of it is a really good read. ( ) JanetinLondon | May 23, 2010 | This strange novel requires a certain mindset, a willingness to follow the protagonist through a series of actions that make no sense in an ordinary context. But that is the point. This man is engaged in an effort to control his environment and limit his reactions to the world around him. When he walks outside after buying snacks in a gas station-convenience store, his wife, Anne, is missing, along with their car. His reaction to this event is to wait at the gas station for her to return. When she doesn't, he walks from New Jersey back to Brooklyn, abandoning their trip to Anne's mother in Nyack, New York without even calling his mother-in-law to tell her what has happened. He doesn't call the police or act as if anything is amiss, simply returns home and goes to bed. He continues in this disjointed manner with occasional fits of rage, generally carefully monitoring himself. Within a couple of days, he buys a used car and begins a journey to recover his lost wife, using a map she has circled in strategic places. Although he has difficulty connecting to those around him, he travels across the country, the author beautifully describing people and places with a sense of immediacy and a fine talent for detail. The narrative abstract becomes meditation in American Purgatorio, and an exploration of the seven deadly sins, difficult territory to traverse, requiring the reader to trust where the writer is taking him. Fantasy must be tempered with fact, enough to pin the character to earth while his mind drifts elsewhere in pursuit of a loved one. Clinging to the details of each place he inhabits, the protagonist is barely anchored, yet he manages to tap into reality often enough to maintain a sense of direction, his goal inexorably closer with each place he visits. Not quite a mystery in this mystery, the novel is as well a remarkable travelogue of terrain and the human spirit, wherein one man's deception is another man's heart break, a memorable journey toward self-realization and the nature of the world as we perceive it. Luan Gaines/ 2006. mugwump2 | Nov 29, 2008 | no reviews | add a review
A mesmerizing first novel about a man, a woman, and a disappearance. "I'm from Chicago originally. I went to New York, married a girl named Anne, and was in the middle of living happily ever after when something happened." So begins John Haskell's mesmerizing first novel, American Purgatorio, the story of a happily married man who discovers, as he walks out of a convenience store, that his life has suddenly vanished. In cool, precise prose, written as both a detective story and a meditation on the seven deadly sins, Haskell tells a story that is by turns tragic and comic, compassionate and gripping. From the brownstones of New York City to the sandy beaches of Southern California, American Purgatorio follows the journey of a man whose object of desire is both heartbreaking and ephemeral. It confirms John Haskell's reputation as one of our most intriguing new writers, "one of those rare authors who makes language seem limitless in its possibilities" (Susan Reynolds, Los Angeles Times). 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: (3.41)
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