The Testing of Luther Albright
by MacKenzie Scott
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"A sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart. A sure-footed excavation into the nuances of everyday terror-the kind that turns devotion into despair, trust into treachery, love into loss. Its pull is irresistible." - Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and author of Song of Solomon "Quietly absorbing . . . the slow pileup of events takes on unexpected, if mild urgency . . . wholly original and convincing." - New York Times Book Review Luther Albright is a show more builder of dams, a man whose greatest pride (besides his family) is running his hands over the true planes of the house he built himself and knowing that he's constructed something that will shield and shelter them from harm. A relatively minor incident -- an earthquake that shakes his Sacramento home-reveals fault lines and cracks in the facade of his family. His teenage son's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and threatening, his devoted wife more distant, and then a dam of Luther's design comes under investigation for structural flaws exposed by the tremors. In the midst of his heartbreaking family dissolution, Luther must battle against the need to withhold his emotions and push his family even farther away. Nightmarish meanings begin to shout at Luther from the most innocent of places as debut novelist MacKenzie Bezos tightens her net of psychological suspense around the reader with bravura skill. In the spirit of Rosellen Brown and Alice McDermott, this is a harrowing portrait of an ordinary man who finds himself tested and strives not to be found wanting. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A low-key but affecting portrait of a family whose admirable head has one fatal flaw. Luther Albright is a responsible man. That shows in his work as a highly respected civil engineer in Sacramento; it shows in the shipshape house he built from scratch in the Sacramento suburbs; and it shows in his love for his close-knit family. Yet his story begins: "The year I lost my wife and son . . ." Lost: the ominous, ambiguous word hangs over the seemingly inconsequential episodes to come. Summary BPL
Superior quality prose and fleshed out characters. The point of it all flew right over my head though. Luther's attention to detail, obsessively methodical routine and flat aspect--on the page anyway--had the tang of autism to me and I read the show more entire story in that key. As I tried to write this review, I saw that it could also be about a person too traumatized by emotion in his childhood to give it any space in his adult life; a father determined not to make the same mistakes as his own parents.
The story lags, testing the interest and patience of the reader.
6 out 10 show less
Superior quality prose and fleshed out characters. The point of it all flew right over my head though. Luther's attention to detail, obsessively methodical routine and flat aspect--on the page anyway--had the tang of autism to me and I read the show more entire story in that key. As I tried to write this review, I saw that it could also be about a person too traumatized by emotion in his childhood to give it any space in his adult life; a father determined not to make the same mistakes as his own parents.
The story lags, testing the interest and patience of the reader.
6 out 10 show less
I think the best way to describe this novel is as a series of tests. Stability tests are run on dams after earthquakes. Just so are parents tested as children become adolescents and young adults. Just so are couples tested as they change over time. Tremors and after shocks test the stability of relationships. In this story, Luther Albright tries to fit his emotional world into his engineer's orderly framework. Frankly, the reader's patience is tested a bit too by Luther's/the author's pedantic process.
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- Canonical title
- The Testing of Luther Albright
- Original publication date
- 2005
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- Members
- 80
- Popularity
- 395,765
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 3
