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Loading... Ghosts of Bergen Countyby Dana Cann
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. For a tale of loss, grief, dysfunction, addiction, & the paranormal, this was actually quite charming. I liked the language and the story line kept surprising just enough to keep me absorbed without any eyerolls. Even the ghost factor was handled with dignity and didn't aggravate any of my woo-woo allergies. Extra points for that there-but-for-the-grace-of feeling of having narrowly missed being someone who still lives in an East Village walkup with a garbage bag taped over the bathroom window. Enjoyable, and recommended to all the usual suspects. ( ) 4.5 stars. This is a book that requires a bit of patience at the beginning; it took me about 50 pages to get into the flow of the author's voice and pacing. By page 200 I was gob-smacked. The bits of magical realism make perfect sense as you make your way through the book. Language at times that will break your heart and give you pause. Truly excellent character study, a fast read with a twist at the end that dove-tailed expertly. Definitely recommend. (Only one small criticism, when the character, Gil, goes to Jen's apartment for the first time, he is perusing the items on her coffee table and uses the word zines to refer to magazines- this is just a personal pet peeve of mine- please people, just use the whole word!) ARC from Tin House- thank you! no reviews | add a review
Gil Ferko is a private-equity lieutenant who commutes to Manhattan from the New Jersey suburbs. His wife, Mary Beth, has become a shut-in since a hit-and-run accident killed their infant daughter. When Ferko reconnects with Jen Yoder, a former high school classmate, Jen introduces him to heroin. As his dependency on the drug grows, his downward spiral puts his life in danger and his career in jeopardy. Mary Beth has also found an escape--first in prescription drugs that numb her senses, then in the companionship of a mysterious girl who heightens them. A ghost? Mary Beth believes so. And Jen is also haunted. Years ago she witnessed a man she had just met fall from a rooftop. She walked away from the accident and has been haunted since by the question of why she did so. As her quest to rectify that mistake starts to collide with the mystery of the hit-and-run driver who killed Ferko and Mary Beth's daughter, all of the characters are forced to face the fine line between fate and happenstance. Dana Cann's debut novel is a tautly paced and intricately plotted story in which collective burdens manifest into hauntings. 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:
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