T.C. Boyle
1987
Around 460 pages
How do you write a novel that spans nearly 300 hundred years, without feeling like the novel is completely overstuffed and bloated? Gabriel Garcia Marquez knows the answer to that question, but T.C. Boyle does not.
Boyle tells the story of several generations of families in the Hudson Valley. In the 17th century, the Van Brunts, a poor farming family, were subjugated by the wealthy landowning Van Wart clan. Fast forward to the 60s, and history has repeated itself. Walter Van Brunt is under the thrall of the dirt-eating Depeyster Van Wart, an heir to the Van Wart estate, and his hippie daughter, Mardi. Like his ancestor, Jeremias, Walter loses his foot. The part about the loss of his foot was actually my favorite section. Not sure what that says about me.
I know by now that I don't enjoy hallucinogenic prose, and this was just too sprawling for me, with too many unlikable characters. I prefer Garcia Marquez's style when telling stories about characters who eat dirt, thank you.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Winner of the 1988 PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction.
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