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Chargement... The Harder They Come (2015)par T.C. Boyle
Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. Whatever point this book seeks to make was squandered, alas, on my pea brain and blinkered imagination. As compellingly and flowingly written as all Boyle's work. Felt a bit like a return to themes (and of course setting) first explored in DROP CITY and FRIEND OF THE EARTH. Read it right after Atticus Lish's PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT LIFE, and sadly THE HARDER THEY COME came off a bit lesser in the comparison, both because the protagonists are less notable and intense and serious, and because of Boyle's characteristic condescending undertone rather than Lish's deep sympathy for his characters. I like his writing. He often deals with contemporary social issues, and he addresses these topics with well-drawn, complex characters who really grapple with both sides of the issue. In this book, violence was the focus. The two main characters were a dad, age 70, who had served in Vietnam, returned home, and eventually became a high-school principal....and his mentally ill son, age 28, I think, who is extremely disturbed. Honestly, Boyle really knows how to get into the mind of a crazy person. It's a pretty depressing book, really, but it's good. My favorite of all his books, still, is TORTILLA CURTAIN. If there is something that Boyle can do and do well, as evident in the wonderful, and now extremely topical, Tortilla Curtain, it is writing about xenophobia. Read like a spiritual sequel to said novel, the Harder They Come shows Boyle in top form, creating a winding story full of sex, violence, and anxieties against others we see as intruders.
From the novel’s thrilling set piece of a start (recounting Sten’s face-off in Costa Rica) to its pensive conclusion, “The Harder They Come” is a masterly — and arresting — piece of storytelling, arguably Mr. Boyle’s most powerful, kinetic novel yet. Prix et récompensesDistinctions
Fiction.
Literature.
HTML: Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author T.C. Boyle makes his Ecco debut with a powerful, gripping novel that explores the roots of violence and anti-authoritarianism inherent in the American character. Set in contemporary Northern California, The Harder They Come explores the volatile connections between three damaged people??an aging ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran, his psychologically unstable son, and the son's paranoid, much older lover??as they careen towards an explosive confrontation. On a vacation cruise to Central America with his wife, seventy-year-old Sten Stensen unflinchingly kills a gun-wielding robber menacing a busload of senior tourists. The reluctant hero is relieved to return home to Fort Bragg, California, after the ordeal??only to find that his delusional son, Adam, has spiraled out of control. Adam has become involved with Sara Hovarty Jennings, a hardened member of the Sovereign Citizens' Movement, right-wing anarchists who refuse to acknowledge the laws and regulations of the state, considering them to be false and non-applicable. Adam's senior by some fifteen years, Sara becomes his protector and inamorata. As Adam's mental state fractures, he becomes increasingly schizophrenic??a breakdown that leads him to shoot two people in separate instances. On the run, he takes to the woods, spurring the biggest manhunt in California history. As he explores a father's legacy of violence and his powerlessness in relating to his equally violent son, T. C. Boyle offers unparalleled psychological insights into the American psyche. Inspired by a true story, The Harder They Come is a devastating and indelible novel from a modern Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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