30 : pieces of a novel /
A novel composed of 30 chapters chronicling the life of an oddball professor in Baltimore. They range from Accidents and Mishaps, on his relations with his wheelchair-bound wife, to The Burial, in which he steals a book of poems from a library for a graveside oration
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Corporate Author: | |
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
Henry Holt and Co.,
1999
New York : Henry Holt, 1999 New York : 1999 |
| Edition: | 1st ed |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | A novel composed of 30 chapters chronicling the life of an oddball professor in Baltimore. They range from Accidents and Mishaps, on his relations with his wheelchair-bound wife, to The Burial, in which he steals a book of poems from a library for a graveside oration Gould Bookbinder, 30's narrator, shares with us his thoroughly examined life from start to several finishes in thirty intertwined recollections, meditations, confessions, and passionate outbursts that when read together give us the kind of intimacy with another person that is possible only in great fiction. For there are many "incidents" - for example, the time when Gould, out for an afternoon swim, accidentally stumbles upon a young couple making love in the backseat of a car. So vividly is this image impressed in his mind that he finds himself recalling it at the most inopportune moments, much to the dismay of his current girlfriend, who is not amused. Gould also recalls an encounter with a pretty young waitress in a resort restaurant who triggers a memory of the crush he had on a girl at summer camp so many years ago and how he schemed to embarrass her for not returning his affections. And now - though he can hardly believe it - he finds himself ready to do so again. All of Gould's foibles - his lusts and obsessions, fears and anxieties - are conveyed with such candor and lack of pretension that we can't help but be seduced into recognizing a little bit (or perhaps a lot) of us in Gould. For Gould is indeed an Everyman for the end of the millennium, a good man trying to live an honest life without compromise and without losing his mind |
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| Item Description: | Acquired as part of the George Washington Flowers Collection of Southern Americana Southern literature collecting initiative This WorldCat-derived record is shareable under Open Data Commons ODC-BY, with attribution to OCLC |
| Physical Description: | x, 672 p. ; 25 cm x, 672 pages ; 25 cm |
| ISBN: | 0805059237 (hb : alk. paper) 0805059237 9780805059236 (hb : alk. paper) 9780805059236 |