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Synopsis
Dorothy Allison, Cavedweller
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Review
"Death changes everything." So begins Dorothy Allison's sprawling, ambitious, and deeply satisfying second novel, Cavedweller. For Delia Byrd, Randall Pritchard's death in a motorcycle accident launches a journey of several thousand miles and almost two decades, a rebirth of sorts that's also a return to her roots. Years before, the handsome but untrustworthy rock star Randall helped Delia flee an abusive husband; Delia escapes physical danger but leaves her two small children behind. In California, her abandoned daughters haunt her dreams and preoccupy her waking hours, even as she sings in Randall's band and gives birth to another daughter, Cissy. But when Randall is killed in a motorcycle accident, Delia packs rebellious Cissy into a broken-down Datsun, bound for Cayro, Georgia, and the one thing that suddenly matters more than anything else: her abandoned children and the chance to be a mother to them once again.
Cayro's poverty is emotional as well as material; the town is a hard place, full of hard people. To them, Delia will always be "that bitch" who abandoned her babies, "that hippie" living a life of sin. Nonetheless, Delia forges a cruel bargain with her former husband: in exchange for Delia's agreeing to care for him as he dies, he gives her a chance to reclaim her daughters. Like Bastard out of Carolina, Allison's acclaimed debut novel, Cavedweller is a chronicle of rage, strength, and survival. Here, however, Allison is equally concerned with the redemptive power of love and forgiveness, and a novel that began with death ends on an unexpectedly sanguine note: "'Yes, it's time for some new songs.'" There are no victims in Dorothy Allison's work; Delia triumphs through sheer force of will, bringing her family together despite the contempt of almost everyone around her.
The novel has its flaws--including occasionally flat-footed prose--but it is in the end compulsively readable, and it's populated by some of the most memorable characters in recent fiction: tough, prickly, flawed, and deeply human, Delia and Cissy are literary creations of the first rank. In describing the complicated emotions that bind and divide them, Allison demonstrates a profoundly unsentimental understanding of the way the human heart works. Cavedweller is the work of a mature artist, her best fiction to date.
About the Author
Dorothy Allison is the bestselling author of several novels including Bastard Out of Carolina, Cavedweller, and Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure, which are available from Brilliance Audio. The recipient of numerous awards, she has been the subject of many profiles and a short documentary film of her life, Two or Three Things but Nothing For Sure. She lives in San Francisco.
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- PublisherUNSPECIFIED VENDOR
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0349111065
- ISBN 13 9780349111063
- BindingPaperback
- Edition number1
- Number of pages434
- Rating
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ISBN 10: 0349111065
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Paperback. Condition: Good. Dorothy Allison's Cavedweller tells the story of Delia Byrd and her three daughters: Amanda, Dede, and Cissy. Prior to the start of the novel, Delia had lived in the fictional town of Cayro, Georgia and was married to a man named Clint Windsor, with whom she had had Amanda and Dede. Clint was abusive toward Delia, and Delia ran away one night when he almost killed her, leaving Amanda and Dede behind. Delia then met Randall Pritchard, a successful musician from a band called Mud Dog. Delia subsequently moved to California and joined the band. Delia also fell in love with Randall and later had Cissy. By the time the novel begins, Randall and Delia have broken up and the band's best days are behind them. 434 pages. Seller Inventory # 1042997
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