A Hole in the Earth
by Robert Bausch
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A novel of families, what tears them apart and what can bring them back together, A Hole in the Earth is an extraordinarily, sometimes excruciatingly accurate portrait of a man charting the foreign territory of his feelings. Henry Porter's summer begins when his daughter Nicole-whom he hasn't seen in five years-shows up on his doorstep. Days later his girlfriend, Elizabeth, announces that she is pregnant. That Henry is speechless at these two events throws into sharp relief his emotional show more landscape, and this novel charts that landscape's exact contours. Anyone who has ever wondered what a man is saying when he isn't talking will find at least a large part of the answer here. Robert Bausch deciphers with perfect economy and unstinting honesty the code embodied in this man's (and a great many men's) words and actions, and discovers there the world of family legacies, love, and abuse. A Hole in the Earth brilliantly draws the webs that attract us to and repel us from our families, as well as the enduring strength that they can provide. show lessTags
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If you are anything like me you won't be able to decide whether you love or hate or just feel sorry for Henry Porter. On the surface he is a selfish, superficial s.o.b. who never knows the right thing to say or do. He doesn't know how to greet Nicole, his only child he hasn't seen in six years. He has a strained relationship with his girlfriend and doesn't know how to respond when she tells him she is pregnant with his child. He comes across as shallow and callous. Case in point: "I calculated that if she really wanted to get my understanding, she would ask for it" he says (p 32). But, having said all that, it's his very attitude that makes him human. We all have our moments of being selfish, superficial, shallow, awkward, cold and show more callous. Henry Porter is real and you can't help but identify with him, even if it is just a little. As Henry's life becomes more complicated (Nicole gets in trouble with a boy and Elizabeth breaks up with him) Henry starts to find his way through his inability to respond to tragedy. It's a good thing because things go from bad to the very worst and Henry must change in order to survive. show less
First 1/3 would get 5 stars. It was a lot like The Corrections. Then the story shifted from character to plot, and the author stopped developing important characters (example: "Chad"). Ultimately disappointing.
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10+ Works 338 Members
Robert Charles Bausch was born at Fort Benning, Georgia on April 18, 1945. In 1965, he and his twin brother enlisted in the Air Force and served together for four years, teaching survival tactics. He received a bachelor's degree in 1974, a master's degree in English in 1975, and a master of fine arts in creative writing in 2001 from George Mason show more University. He taught at a private school before becoming an instructor at Northern Virginia Community College in 1975. He received a statewide award in 2013 as one of Virginia's leading college professors. His first novel, On the Way Home, was published in 1982. His other novels included A Hole in the Earth, The Gypsy Man, Out of Season, Far as the Eye Can See, The Legend of Jesse Smoke, and In the Fall They Come Back. His novel Almighty Me was adapted into the movie Bruce Almighty. In 2009, he received the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature from Longwood University for his body of work. He died from multiple myeloma October 9, 2018 at the age of 73. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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