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Synopsis
The fractured lives of three generations of a Southern family unfold in this lyrical and piercing debut novel. As a young man, Harrison Durrance comes into his own during World War II, but when the war ends, he loses his bearings. His notions of the world begins to fail him and he, in turn, begins to fail himself and the people he claims to love.
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From Publishers Weekly
This promising first novel by the curator of William Faulkner's home seems to pick up where the Nobel winner left off-by spanning three generations of a Southern family, from 1931 to the present. We are introduced to young Harrison Dorrance as he makes his way through the confusion of adolescence with the help of his eccentric uncle, who advises him above all to be flexible, because "the earth curves." Though accurate, this maxim is of little help when WWII begins and the once-charming boy grows into an embittered man. As the years pass, other narrative voices replace Harrison's, and a darker side of the protagonist is revealed through the words of the wife he abuses; later, he is seen through the eyes of his mistress, his son and, ultimately, his granddaughter. Shearer continually and gracefully manages to juxtapose the mundane, the lethal and the lyrical; the title comes from an encyclopedia that Harrison buys for his son, to help him "dream his boy's dream of dirigibles and zeppelins." By such contrasts, the fresh and engagingly poetic story takes shape as a complex web of contradictions that is a pleasure to unravel. 17,500 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Powerful and risk-taking in both content and structure, this first novel tries to make sense of the human condition, particularly the dance between the sexes. At its center is Harrison Durrance, whose three-generational family story is told by a different person in each chapter--Durrance, his wives, children, grandchild, and sister-in-law--with gapping and overlapping chronologies and all dialogue in italics. Once the reader is past minor confusion at the start, the technique works wonderfully well, giving a Rashomon-like view of Durrance and his relationships. Born poor in a large family in Alapaha, Georgia, in 1915, he fell under the spell of his radio engineer uncle, Artie, became a World War II flying ace, and saw his career as a full colonel end ignominiously at 41. Along the way he drank heavily, beat his wife, and terrorized his children. The characters' admirable behavior is duly expressed, but at the forefront of the narrative are their fears and anger, probed by the author to the point of painfulness. This thought-provoking fiction leaves the reader almost stunned; a potential book-club favorite, it belongs in all fiction collections. Michele Leber
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- PublisherRandom House Value Publishing
- Publication date1998
- ISBN 10 0517199521
- ISBN 13 9780517199527
- BindingHardcover
- Rating
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