The Lay of the Land

Frank Bascombe, Book 3

By: Richard Ford

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

With The Sportswriter, in 1986, Richard Ford commenced a cycle of novels that, 10 years later, after Independence Day won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, was hailed by The Times of London as "an extraordinary epic [that] is nothing less than the story of the 20th century itself." Now, a decade later, Frank Bascombe returns, with a new lease on life (and real estate), and more acutely in thrall to life's endless complexities than ever before.

His story resumes in the autumn of 2000, when his trade as a realtor on the Jersey Shore is thriving, permitting him to revel in the acceptance of "that long, stretching-out time when my dreams would have mystery like any ordinary person's; when whatever I do or say, who I marry, how my kids turn out, becomes what the world, if it makes note at all, knows of me, how I'm seen, understood, even how I think of myself before whatever there is that's wild and unassuagable rises and cheerlessly hauls me off to oblivion."

But as a presidential election hangs in the balance, and a postnuclear-family Thanksgiving looms before him, along with crises both marital and medical, Frank discovers that what he terms the Permanent Period is fraught with unforeseen perils: "All the ways that life feels like life at age 55 were strewn around me like poppies."

This is a holiday, and a novel, no reader will ever forget, at once hilarious, harrowing, surprising, and profound. The Lay of the Land is astonishing in its own right and a magnificent expansion of one of the most celebrated chronicles of our time.

©2006 Richard Ford (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

• National Book Critics Circle 2006 Award Finalist, Fiction

"The third and most eventful novel in the Frank Bascombe series." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Ford summons a remarkable voice for his protagonist, ruminant, jaunty, merciless, generous and painfully observant, building a dense narrative from Frank's improvisations, epiphanies and revisions." (Publishers Weekly)
"As ever the drama is rooted in the interior world of its authentically life-sized hero, as he logs long hours on the highways and back roads of New Jersey, taking expansive stock of middle-age defeats and registering the erosions of a brilliantly evoked landscape of suburbs, strip malls and ocean towns." (New York Times Book Review)

Barrett was fine, but why not Richard Poe?

Any additional comments?

I was sorely disappointed that Richard Poe, the narrator of Sportswriter and Independence Day, was not called upon to do this book. For me he was the voice of Frank Bascombe. Glad to see he is back in Let Me Be Frank With You. Not securing him for Lay of the Land was a huge misstep.

Wisdom from the realtor

Richard Ford has to be one of the best writers working today. Each sentence, wonderfully narrated, is packed with meaning. The strength of this novel is not plot but character. You get to know Frank, and in the process he teaches you a great deal about how to learn to accept life, family, and a variety of other imperfections. There is a great deal of wit here - I agree with the reviewer who found delight in Frank's visit to the Lesbian bar while waiting for his car to be repaired across the street. But I would say that the wisdom in this book is what finally makes it such a good one. Frank learns to accept what his life has given and to accept and even love the people he encounters. I had the feeling several times that Frank is a better person than I am, or at least a much wiser one. Frank a very likeable man - one I would delight in purchasing a house from - but also a very wise man who has embraced all that life offers with a serene intelligence that is at the same time pragmatic and down to earth. The narrator is excellent, with just the right timing for those marvelous sentences. This is one great listen.

Richard Ford, get out of my mind!

Richard Ford has written one of those books that make you believe he has been reading your mind for years. If you are a middle-aged suburban man, Frank Bascome is as real as the guy you see in the mirror every morning. We have the tendency to think our personal experience is unique, but a good author that so perfectly recreates your experience can let you see how universal life's story's are. I find it liberating and humorous to realize my situation is not as unique as I thought, hearing another man struggle with the same questions puts my fears and doubts in perspective.

I loved it, but realize what your getting.

If you like Richard Russo style musings of a story that tends to slowly unveil through the eyes of a middle age male (of which I am...) then this is a great book. I loved it and was not happy when, at first, this was the only Audible Richard Ford book.

My daughter is all about Jodi Picoult and the new Twilight books. Clearly they meet her needs as a teenage reader, although I find them overwritten, melodramatic tripe.

And this is my point: This book met me where i was at, and is a great read for those looking to see how a big segment of middle age white guy thinks and sees much of the world. I suppose for many, this would seem silly...but I loved the writing and the narration was great.

Kiwi

A fantastic book. It contains all segments of real, ordinary life. All people who read this book can find all sorts of events that they themselves have been experiencing.
The book deals with death, humour, embarrasment,
guilt, joy, yearning and so on.
Those who read it have to be patient and can not expect any suspence or "drama".
This is a book where the reader just have to listen intently to all the details given along the way.
To me this book should belong with the "classics".

good pointless writing

I thought I'd get some middle-aged wisdom from this book. One good point was that the author's style was just engrossing enough and the *narrator's voice* sounded close enough (in my mind) to SOUND like the fictional main character. It sounded like an autobiography and not fiction. But unless you have an ex-wife, sell real estate, or have testicular cancer I can't say this book has a lot in the way of entertainment value or offers much wisdom or mid -life insight. For example, he pokes a bit of fun of his real-estates assistant's Eastern (Hindu / Buddhist) religious ideas while I respect Buddhism highly since it is not a "religion" per se rather a mind set - the middle path - nothing to extreme. I respect Eastern philosophy to our Western "Progress First" rat race mentality that puts no emphasis on inner peace (something the main character desperately seeks.) I was surprised to learn that this is also the third of the series. It is hard to imagine what is in the first two other than his divorce and then his diagnosis. It is true literature in a sense. I just didn't get much depth or deeper understanding out of it. It isn't BAD it just isn't REALLY good. When the deepest thing you can relate to is the satisfaction of getting much needed bladder relief you know you're not getting much out of the book.

Decent story, great writing

Good yarn, but Bascome's tone gets whiny after a while.

Best read in quite a while.

Wonderful narration. I knew, liked and related to the main character. Very very human and sympathetic.

Depressing and lacks authentic relfection

This story might ring true for aging men but I found it downright depressing and lacking any compelling story. Just was not my kind of read aloud book.

Parents or Divorced will "get this book"

If you could sum up The Lay of the Land in three words, what would they be?

When the best is yet to come is no longer a possibility, Your life has entered the permanent period. Frank Bascom explores and deals with life after divorce, adults kids returning home and cancer in this book that covers only 3 days in his life. It is a fascinating personality profile of Frank Bascom, realtor and the new permanent period of life.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Frank Bascom is interviewed by the detective on Thanksgiving Day ( aprx 6 hours and 14 minutes left in audio book). Frank has to explain many things to the old time cop. Cop finally explains how he just has to get people to stop killing each other- then he can retire.