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Men Can Read, Too
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Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m. -- Taps by Willie Morris -- at Bill Zarakas' home in Byfield From Publishers Weekly -- Stilled by his death in August 1999, the voice of Willie Morris resonated with a particular Southern grace and eloquence. This posthumous novel, by turns poignant, funny, heartwarming and suspenseful, is worthy of comparison to Morris's classic North Toward Home. Set in the Mississippi Delta town of Fisk's Landing and spanning the early months of the Korean War, the narrative chronicles the adventures of 16-year-old Swayze Barksdale, who with his buddy Arch is called upon by hardware store owner and WWII hero Luke Cartwright to play "Taps" at the funeral of the first of the town's soldiers to fall in battle. The Korean conflict inexorably defines young Swayze's life as he participates in a succession of military funerals. When the much-despised Durley Godbold, the eldest son of an arrogant, domineering, wealthy landowner, is reported missing in action, Luke soon finds himself involved in an illicit affair with Durley's wife, Amanda. Swayze and his lifelong friend Georgia, the daughter of socially prominent parents, chance upon the lovers' secret and become conspirators of a sort. Stealing away to Luke's remote hideaway cabin, their own tender explorations are quickly fanned to flame. Illuminating the rich interior lives of the inhabitants of a Southern backwater, this tale of young love, intrigue, jealousy, treachery and violence is a deeply affecting swan song by one of America's most beloved writers. Echoing Faulkner and Caldwell, and Dan Wakefield's Going All the Way, it plays a fitting "Taps" for a literary genius cut down in his prime. (Apr. 16)Forecast: The recent movie version of My Dog Skip introduced Morris to a new generation, poised to become readers of this novel; retrospective reviews also might attract new readers. A six-city tour by the author's widow, JoAnne Prichard Morris, who will be joined by many of Morris's literary friends, and a tie-in with Father's Day merchandising should give the book a boost. January 12 at 6:30 p.m. -- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon -- at David Chatfield's home in Newburyport From Amazon.com -- Like the comic books that animate and inspire it, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is both larger than life and of it too. Complete with golems and magic and miraculous escapes and evil nemeses and even hand-to-hand Antarctic battle, it pursues the most important questions of love and war, dreams and art, across pages brimming with longing and hope. Samuel Klayman--self-described little man, city boy, and Jew--first meets Josef Kavalier when his mother shoves him aside in his own bed, telling him to make room for their cousin, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. It's the beginning, however unlikely, of a beautiful friendship. In short order, Sam's talent for pulp plotting meets Joe's faultless, academy-trained line, and a comic-book superhero is born. A sort of lantern-jawed equalizer clad in dark blue long underwear, the Escapist "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" Before they know it, Kavalier and Clay (as Sam Klayman has come to be known) find themselves at the epicenter of comics' golden age. But Joe Kavalier is driven by motives far more complex than your average hack. In fact, his first act as a comic-book artist is to deal Hitler a very literal blow. (The cover of the first issue shows the Escapist delivering "an immortal haymaker" onto the Führer's realistically bloody jaw.) In subsequent years, the Escapist and his superhero allies take on the evil Iron Chain and their leader Attila Haxoff--their battles drawn with an intensity that grows more disturbing as Joe's efforts to rescue his family fail. He's fighting their war with brush and ink, Joe thinks, and the idea sustains him long enough to meet the beautiful Rosa Saks, a surrealist artist and surprisingly retrograde muse. But when even that fiction fails him, Joe performs an escape of his own, leaving Rosa and Sammy to pick up the pieces in some increasingly wrong-headed ways. |
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