Items related to Our Happiness: A Novel
An accidental killing and a crumbling marriage animate this stunning debut novel in the Southern Gothic tradition.
“A sheriff's car, unmarked, the color of putty, flashed along the fence row, cruising by. We could see the roof and hood, the the grill, the bumpers and wheels, the whole car at moments in the open spaces but, at this distance, not the man inside. I imagined whoever was in that car was looking for me, and one day it would pull into our lane and drive through the barnyard up into the woods and they'd start unpiling the stones. And then I'd run. I'd run so far no one could find me. I'd change my name from Carl Freeman to Charles Furmin. I'd change a digit in my social security number and get a job in the kitchen of a diner and make new friends. I'd call Kath from pay phones but she wouldn't answer. I thought about that all the time. I watched the cop car go by and remembered I had once sat handcuffed in the backseat of such a car on my way to a place called Beaumont. I would spend a hard year there for a barn fire I set, but that was before I turned eighteen and has all been erased and there's no record of it anywhere.”—From Our Happiness
“Told in lyrical flashbacks . . . reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird and highly recommended.”—Library Journal
“[Tom Jenks] expertly devises parent-child relationships [and] demonstrates a descriptive knack. . . . The rustic experience springs alive here.”—Publishers Weekly
“A sheriff's car, unmarked, the color of putty, flashed along the fence row, cruising by. We could see the roof and hood, the the grill, the bumpers and wheels, the whole car at moments in the open spaces but, at this distance, not the man inside. I imagined whoever was in that car was looking for me, and one day it would pull into our lane and drive through the barnyard up into the woods and they'd start unpiling the stones. And then I'd run. I'd run so far no one could find me. I'd change my name from Carl Freeman to Charles Furmin. I'd change a digit in my social security number and get a job in the kitchen of a diner and make new friends. I'd call Kath from pay phones but she wouldn't answer. I thought about that all the time. I watched the cop car go by and remembered I had once sat handcuffed in the backseat of such a car on my way to a place called Beaumont. I would spend a hard year there for a barn fire I set, but that was before I turned eighteen and has all been erased and there's no record of it anywhere.”—From Our Happiness
“Told in lyrical flashbacks . . . reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird and highly recommended.”—Library Journal
“[Tom Jenks] expertly devises parent-child relationships [and] demonstrates a descriptive knack. . . . The rustic experience springs alive here.”—Publishers Weekly
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author:
Tom Jenks is the co-founder and editor of Narrative . He is a former editor of Esquire, GQ, The Paris Review, and a senior editor at Scribner.
From Publishers Weekly:
On a Southern farm, Carl Freeman fires a shot to scare off a dog and accidentally kills a man. Ten years later and living in Manhattan, he still is unable to forgive himself for a crime he never admits to anyone, and the dirty secret eats away at his marriage and health. First novelist Jenks, the literary editor of GQ , expertly devises parent-child relationships through cameos of Carl's troubled, ambiguous ties to his mother and son. He also demonstrates a descriptive knack: an elderly, black rural woman who "would fall into the bushes with any old boy who'd give her a drink or small change"; marital mementos that Carl keeps, such as a piece of lace and ribbon from the bodice of a nightgown his wife, Kath, wore when they were first together. Although the rustic experience springs alive here, some bad backwoods folks are stereotypes and Carl's leap from drunken bricklayer to celebrated yuppie real-estate developer is less than credible. The murder is an overly portentous plot pivot, and familiar contrivances are Kath's drug flashbacks and Carl's belief that "Kath and I mirrored each other's darkness. Hurting, we drew hurt to us and were bounded by it."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherBantam
- Publication date1990
- ISBN 10 055334854X
- ISBN 13 9780553348545
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages192
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