Richard Ford (1) (1944–)

Ha sido un placer reencontrarse de nuevo con Frank Bascombe, el personaje creado por Richard Ford en la que parece ser la última novela en la que aparezca, tras 'El periodista deportivo' y 'El Día de la Independencia', su obra maestra. Como si de un viejo amigo se tratara, al que hace años que no ves (concretamente diez años, desde la publicación de 'El Día de la Independencia'), Frank nos cuenta qué tal le está yendo la vida, cuando faltan dos días para el Acción de Gracias del show more año 2000.

Frank sigue en el negocio inmobiliario, vendiendo casas en Nueva Jersey, junto a su empleado tibetano Mike. Su segunda mujer, Sally, le abandonó hace unos meses, al reaparecer su primer marido, al que se había dado por muerto. Pero lo más grave es que tiene cáncer de próstata, que está tratando con unas semillas de titanio. Es por ello que su hija Clarissa ha venido a vivir con él. Clarissa, de veinticinco años, ha dejado a su novia porque ha decidido probar de nuevo con los hombres. Con el extraño Paul, de veintisiete años, el otro hijo de Frank, mantiene una relación distante, pero aun así se le espera para Acción de Gracias. En cuanto a Ann, la ex mujer de Frank y madre de sus hijos, la relación bascula entre el amor y el odio, manteniéndose más bien en lo amistoso.

Y así transcurre la vida del bueno de Frank, intentando entender y pecando de demasiado comprensivo con la huida de Sally, además de pensar lo menos posible en el cáncer que padece, cuyo estado ha de volver a revisar en unos días en la Clínica Mayo. Y mientras tanto, Frank sigue viendo a clientes para venderles casas, algo que le gusta y que le ayuda en su día a día. Frank también pertenece a la organización Sponsor que, sin ánimo de lucro, intenta ayudar y dar consejo a las personas que lo requieran, como si de un grupo de amigos de alquiler se tratase.

Y todo ésto, bajo las elecciones del 2000, donde parece que va a ganar Bush (odiado por Frank) en contra de Gore. Bajo este incierto futuro transcurre la novela, con nuestro protagonista acudiendo a citas con clientes, asistiendo al entierro de un viejo amigo, preocupado por su enfermedad, pero no menos por la incertidumbre de su matrimonio, queriendo resarcirse de su penoso papel como padre, pero preocupado también por el gran día, Acción de Gracias, a dos días vista.

Esta novela es un gran fresco de lo que fue el final del año 2000, el inicio de un nuevo milenio, el inicio de una nueva etapa, en la que, visto en retrospectiva, ya se intuía el desastre económico que avecinaba; y quién mejor que un agente inmobiliario para darse cuenta. En el libro hay capítulos y fragmentos memorables, como toda la parte en la que Frank nos explica cómo le abandonó su mujer; o cómo fueron los primeros días con su hija Clarissa; o el entierro de su amigo, y muchos otros, todo ello aderezado por las reflexiones de Frank.

Al libro hay que darle tiempo para arrancar, son muchas páginas, que transcurren en su debido tempo, hasta que llega un momento en que te conviertes en la sombra de Bascombe, y disfrutas por todo lo que va pasando, de todo su periplo, sus conversaciones, sus viajes en coche...

Como bien dice Rodrigo Fresán, hay que darle las gracias a Richard Ford por haber escrito este libro. show less

The first two sentences of Richard Ford’s Canada are, I suspect, destined to be among the most quoted of 2012. Even so, I cannot resist using them here, too, because they are the perfect opening for the book:

“First, I’ll tell you about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later.”

These words are spoken by 65-year-old Dell Parsons, the book’s narrator, as he considers the fifteen-year old boy he was in 1960 just before his parents made the show more stupid decision that would almost destroy him and Berner, his twin sister. The Parsons had been transferred to Montana by the U.S. Air Force, but now Dell’s father is a civilian, and having decided that Great Falls is a good place to raise his family, Bev Parsons is struggling to find a job that will allow him to do that. To young Dell, nothing is more important than the fast-approaching start of his freshman year in the town’s public high school. Up to now, the twins have been encouraged not to develop ties to the places they pass through with the Air Force, so Dell is eager to transform Great Falls into the hometown he has never known.

But when Dell’s parents are arrested for a North Dakota bank robbery, his hopes of finally settling down and making long term friends are destroyed before he can even set foot in his new school. Dell and Berner are surprised to find themselves, at least temporarily, forgotten by the legal system that has both their parents locked tight in the city jail. After Berner, the worldly twin, strikes out on her own, his mother’s only friend agrees to deliver Dell to her brother in the remote prairies of Saskatchewan in order to keep him from falling into the hands of Montana juvenile authorities.

There, still a very naïve child at fifteen, Dell falls under the control and influence of two men who will further destroy his sense of who he is. Charlie Quarters, the Leonard Hotel’s strange, half-breed hunting guide into whose charge Dell is delivered, will use him as an extra pair of hands. Arthur Remlinger, an American hiding out in Canada for reasons of his own, is the hotel’s owner. Unfortunately for Dell, Remlinger, a sociopath of sorts, will never be the father figure he needs so badly, and will, instead, almost finish the job of destroying his life.

Canada is a character-driven novel with the plot of a crime thriller, a literary novel that will keep the reader turning pages. Throughout his narrative, Dell Parsons gives intriguing little hints that all is not as it seems and that he should have figured things out sooner than he did. Ford’s characters are so well developed that even their most bizarre actions are believable in the context of who the reader knows them to be. With perhaps one exception (Charlie Quarters), there are no black and white characters in Canada. Each has a distinct set of strengths, weaknesses, and motivations that allows them to be sucked into whatever happens around them.

Canada is about borders – literal ones and symbolic ones – and what they really mean. The lesson for Dell Parsons is that once some borders are crossed, they are crossed forever. There is no going back.

Rated at: 5.0 show less

A turbulent coming of age tale told from the point of view of 16-year-old Joe who is forced to bear witness to the immolation of his parents’ marriage. Joe’s father, Jerry, loses his job, unfairly, as the golf pro at the local course and his ensuing despair triggers a caustic reaction from Joe’s mother, Jeanette. Jerry eventually seeks his salvation, or destruction, in joining a crew fighting a mighty forest fire to the west of their town of Great Falls, Montana. Jeanette takes his show more abandonment as something more and also rushes headlong to her own dark night of despair, all of this witnessed by Joe who both wants to be present and wants to run away. But all of the actors here seem caught in eddies of passion and circumstance well beyond their control. And all that any of them can do is hope to ride out the storm.

Ford’s first novel is firmly situated in the Montana of many of his short stories and of his late novel, Canada. The teenage narrator, looking back some years after the events being narrated, is wistful, almost laconic, perhaps as befits a prairie tale. Certainly Joe is in a strange place - a town he doesn’t know well, and a place in life he is also unfamiliar with (the naivety of this teenager is only plausible due to the 1960 setting). Joe seems emotionally stunted, conflicted — saying one thing but often meaning the opposite, and then reversing himself almost immediately, and largely helpless in the face of his parents’ marital strife. Only the quick pace of the tale (this is almost novella length) can keep Joe in the reader’s sympathy. Had it gone on much longer I think the reader would get frustrated with him. With his parents all we can do is shrug and shake our heads.

The writing is fully controlled but may at times feel overworked, which might not be surprising for a first novel. It would be hard not to imagine, had I read this back in 1990 when it was first published, that more and better would follow from the pen of Ford. And I would have been right. As for now, gently recommended for those who would like to pursue the early flourishing of Ford’s Montana-vein of storytelling. show less

The Short of It:

The anatomy of a crime, as told by one of the characters most affected by it.

The Rest of It:

"First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later. The robbery is the more important part, since it served to set my and my sister’s lives on the courses they eventually followed. Nothing would make complete sense without that being told first." (First lines of Canada)

Those opening lines set the stage for Dell’s story. His show more parents, struggling to make a life for themselves in Great Falls, Montana, rob a bank after getting involved in an illegal business deal. Their hope, is to pay off their debt and begin again. What Bev Parsons does not know, is that his wife Neeva sees this criminal act as a way to escape a lifetime with the man she married. Dell and his sister Berner are left to a family friend who has plans to get them out of the country. But as twins, and only fifteen, they are not sure what to make of the things happening around them.

What a book. I’ve never read Richard Ford before but when my book club picked it for January I had to give it a try. It’s not a book a reader can love. The story is too bleak for that, but I did appreciate the languid writing. Some of the members in the group compared Ford to Richard Russo and I agree. His writing reminded me a lot of Russo.

Many of the details shared are “day in the life” type details but at the same time, Ford uses foreshadowing to string the reader along. It works. I read these 400+ pages in two sittings. Telling the story from Dell’s sheltered perspective is somewhat limiting at times, but his wide-eyed wonder at the things going on around him made him vulnerable which lent the story a fragile, precarious quality.

What I most enjoyed, is the discussion that took place afterward. It’s hard to imagine what drives people to do the things they do, but it was fun to discuss it. Dell’s parents were never normal, in the traditional sense of the word. They kept their kids sheltered, were not successful in any way and tried to remain under the radar. Living in that small town, they managed to avoid most of their neighbors and didn’t seem to know how to interact with the people around them, or each other. This should have helped them in the end, but it’s really what did them in.

Ford can tell a tale and his sense of place is strong here. I enjoyed his style of writing so much, that I will be sure to seek out his other books. Have you read any of his books?

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. show less