The Soldier - Hardcover

Binstock, R. C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569470596 ISBN 13: 9781569470596

Publisher: Soho Pr Inc, 1996

Synopsis

Phillip's insular artistic life borders on self-exile. He lives in the woods of New Hampshire in a centuries old farmhouse. He does not simply prize his privacy, he insists on it. When a young female relative arrives, to whom he has offered a temporary haven, he finds the intrusion not at all displeasing. Instead of resenting the invasion of his solitude, he finds himself liking it, and her.
But how alone has he actually been? How isolated is his existence? A woman prowls the grounds. A soldier of a war fought long ago dreams of home. Lives, past and present, flow together in mystical collusion, amplifying one another's conflicts, joys, desires. They inform Phillip's life and art, infusing his isolation and imagination.

About this title

About the Author

R.C. Binstock's new novel, Swift River, will be published in November, 2014.

Reviews

The scenario at the center of Binstock's second novel may be the stuff of male fantasy?a middle-aged writer finding true love with his comely cousin?but it's redeemed by the novel's elegantly austere prose and by its frank, perceptive meditations on suffering, relationships and the creative process. The 46-year-old Phillip has been living alone in the New Hampshire woods for more than a decade, turning out critically acclaimed but commercially weak novels, when Jeannie, the 23-year-old daughter of his beloved Aunt Carla, arrives to apprentice as a writer. Carla was the bright spot of Phillip's lonely childhood, his surrogate mother after his own passed away. Now long-denied desires for her, for human companionship and for carnal relations with a beautiful young woman increasingly trouble Phillip as Jennie's stay wears on. The narrative of the pair's emerging relationship is fractured by excerpts from Phillip's novel-in-progress about a Civil War soldier and by the ruminations of a ghost who haunts the soldier's house. This results in the introduction of intriguing parallel themes, but also in occasional confusion among characters' voices. In the surprising conclusion to this quiet, thoughtful work, the tragic fate that befalls the Civil War soldier will mirror Phillip's own. British, translation, first serial, dramatic rights: Smith/Skolnik.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Second-novelist Binstock follows the elegant Trees of Heaven (1995) with a disheveled exploration of weighty matters: familial attachment and loss, and the complex architecture of a writer's inner world. Phillip, a talented but lonely 46-year-old novelist, has agreed to allow his 23-year-old cousin Jennie--on the rebound from an abusive relationship--to come stay in his quiet New Hampshire home. The kind of writer who stores his manuscript-in-progress in a safe deposit box, Phillip has analyzed the fragile magic that results in finished pages, and he's sent past lovers away out of deference to his work. So he watches himself in dismay as he takes increasing pleasure in his attractive cousin's company and her admiration. As the sexual tension builds, other characters' stories intervene: There's Jane, a local apple-grower who loved Phillip and still mourns the end of their relationship. There's the ghost of Bertha, the previous owner of Phillip's house, who hovers about, spying. And there's Sutherland, a character in Phillip's novel, a soldier of pained sensibilities, suffering as his tattered company fights the Civil War. After much mutual circling, Jennie proposes sex and the cousins find bliss in each other's beds. But troubles loom: Phillip's moodiness emerges, Jane contacts Jennie, and Jennie's violent ex arrives still in the throes of obsession. While these matters develop, there's much to admire here: Binstock's prose is spare and graceful, and he skillfully weaves multiple perspectives into something resembling a cohesive whole. Phillip is complex and always interesting as he self-consciously attempts to keep hold of a vocation that defies conscious control and a present shaped by past losses. Jennie, however, is a flat and platitude- spouting character; the result is that the central love story lacks ballast. Still, between Binstock's stylistic virtuosity and the ample psychological insights lodged in Phillip's story--and in those of many of the marginal characters--there are substantial rewards in this ambitious if flawed novel. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Binstock, of Tree of Heaven fame , writes masterful duets: intricate, knowing, and suspenseful scenes about people reaching out to each other under trying circumstances. His newest psychological drama, set in rural New Hampshire, portrays a cast of seemingly isolated characters who find themselves caught in a dangerous web of desire. Phillip, a middle-aged writer living in a fine old house he inherited from distant relatives, is so obsessed with his work he destroys healthy relationships, including his affair with an attractive neighbor. Jane, who grows rare, antique species of apples and is devoted to her invalid father and at-loose-ends brother, is still suffering from her breakup with Phillip. Then Jennie, Phillip's young, beautiful, and enigmatic niece, arrives, seeking sanctuary. As Jennie and Phillip surrender to their ill-advised passion, we are seduced by this contemplative tale's quiet intensity but become increasingly aware of a dark, foreboding force manifest in the presence of a ghost and in passages of Phillip's searing novel about a soldier in the Civil War. Ultimately, Binstock's subtly gothic tale reminds us of the fragility of reason and the fleetingness of peace. Donna Seaman

Although this tale involves an author in rural New Hampshire as opposed to a soldier in China, the plot is surprisingly similar to Binstock's Tree of Heaven (LJ 10/1/95). Once again, we have loners who share a forbidden love. Phillip is a writer whose solitary existence is interrupted by the arrival of his beautiful young cousin, Jennie. In exchange for room and board, Jennie takes care of the house and cooks the meals. While Phillip finds her presence initially disconcerting, he soon grows attracted to her, and the two become lovers. The novel is segmented into chapters that alternately depict the perspectives of Phillip, Jennie, Jane (a rejected lover), a female ghost, and a soldier. While the story of Phillip and his women is of some interest, other plot lines seem peripheral, and frequent transitions do not make for easy reading. A disappointing follow-up to Binstock's eloquent and lovely first novel.?Kimberly G. Allen, MCI Corporate Information Resources Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Soho Pr Inc
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569470596
• ISBN 13: 9781569470596
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 282