Regular price: $31.49
With The Clearing, Southeastern Booksellers Award winner Tim Gautreaux delivers a brutal novel of love, family, and redemption. Randolph Aldridge travels to a snake-infested Cypress mill in Louisiana to find his brother Byron, a troubled veteran of World War I. Once there, Randolph finds that By is a shell of his former self—and that the murderous cartel controlling the mill’s casino won’t give them any peace.
Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At 14, she roams the woods along the Northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous. Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin.
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight.
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
After the stunning historical novels The Clearing and The Missing, Tim Gautreaux now ranges freely through contemporary life with 12 new stories and eight from previous collections. Most are set in his beloved Louisiana, many hard by or on the Mississippi River, others in North Carolina, and even in midwinter Minnesota. But generally it's heat, humidity, and bugs that beset his people as they wrestle with affairs of the heart, matters of faith, and the pros and cons of tight-knit communities.
The Newest Oprah Book Club 2016 Selection. Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood - where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned - Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
With The Clearing, Southeastern Booksellers Award winner Tim Gautreaux delivers a brutal novel of love, family, and redemption. Randolph Aldridge travels to a snake-infested Cypress mill in Louisiana to find his brother Byron, a troubled veteran of World War I. Once there, Randolph finds that By is a shell of his former self—and that the murderous cartel controlling the mill’s casino won’t give them any peace.
Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At 14, she roams the woods along the Northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous. Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin.
The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight.
In the 1920s the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, they rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. Her relatives were shot and poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more members of the tribe began to die under mysterious circumstances.
After the stunning historical novels The Clearing and The Missing, Tim Gautreaux now ranges freely through contemporary life with 12 new stories and eight from previous collections. Most are set in his beloved Louisiana, many hard by or on the Mississippi River, others in North Carolina, and even in midwinter Minnesota. But generally it's heat, humidity, and bugs that beset his people as they wrestle with affairs of the heart, matters of faith, and the pros and cons of tight-knit communities.
The Newest Oprah Book Club 2016 Selection. Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood - where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned - Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
I really liked this book. The author takes you on a journey that puts you in the Narrator's pocket and "doesn't let you out" until the very end. Wow, what a thrilling ride.
17 of 18 people found this review helpful
Would you consider the audio edition of The Missing to be better than the print version?
I feel that Henry Strozier's reading enhances an excellent and readable story.
What did you like best about this story?
The character Sam Simoneaux seems like a real person -- kind, gentle, flawed, a man with realistic ambitions and unfortunate luck who perseveres. All the characters in Mr. Gautreaux's story are unique and realistic, some more fleshed out than others. The story flows along with the ups and downs and drama of ordinary life in a difficult time in American history.
What about Henry Strozier’s performance did you like?
I seek out books read by Henry Strozier. His voice soothes my mind, as well as bringing characters to life. He paces a book perfectly so every word has the significance intended by the writer.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
A story of loss and living.
Any additional comments?
This is one of my favorite books read in the last several years. He is a wonderful Southern writer. I have shared with friends who also enjoyed it.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful