Independence Day

Frank Bascombe, Book 2

By: Richard Ford

Narrated by: Richard Poe

Pulitzer Prize Winner, Fiction 1996

Hailed as a major American novel, Independence Day is a relentlessly thoughtful, heart-wrenching, yet hilarious portrait of an ordinary American man. Wickedly realistic details and dialog entice you to see modern life filtered through the first-person narrator's complex and evolving consciousness. Apparently directionless since his divorce, Frank Bascombe migrates from one non-committal relationship to another. He freely indulges his tendencies to self absorption, over-intellectualization, and neurotic ambivalence. But all of that changes one fateful Fourth of July weekend, when, armed with the Declaration of Independence, he embarks on a mission to save his troubled teenaged son.

©1995 Richard Ford (P)1998 RECORDED BOOKS

Certainly not deserving of the Pulitzer!

Descriptive, eloquently well written but flat and a bit boring. Are the characters interesting ? is this a story worth reading about? Not really!

Enjoyable and thought provoking but too long

After reading "Canada" I downloaded this book. This was very different in style. I did enjoy it but found it repetitive and overly long.

outstanding

the author is a master of character development and insights into human nature. highly recommended

Everyman

I loved the ability to capture a common man and bring him through his typical American life in such an articulate and emotional manner. I would never dream of spending pages on seemingly endless monotonous activity with such a riveting style. I had trouble taking breaks from the flow of the narrative and narrator. Superb.

Props to the reader for sticking with this book

Excellent writing of Frank's unfortunately dreary, consistently depressing inner monologue. My main issue, however, is that the writer seems to be attributing one voice or at least one speaking style to many of the characters. Couldn't have been much competition for the Pulitzer that year. I don't see what it made it worthy.