With his trademark economy of style, Dexter brings a colorful cast of characters to life in its most reckless, vulnerable moments, stripping away words and manners until all that is left is the basic human pulse.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
In the 1953 of Pete Dexter's Train, Miller Packard is a sergeant in the San Diego police department who has little time for hypocrisy or racism. He lives life as a dare, fearless and bemused, his wife observing that he "was drawn to movement and friction, to chance; he had to have something in play." He is also a golfer, though not a great one. Over a game with a fat cheater named Pinky, Packard's world collides with the troubled life of Lionel "Train" Walk, a young African-American caddy at Brookline Country Club. Train is a virtuoso golfer but is doomed to tote old men's clubs in a sport that can't find a place for a young black athlete. Train also holds a secret, a murder that has never been reported but haunts his every step. In the volatile world of 1950s racial politics, bonds of friendship that cross the color line are doomed, and Packard and Train cruise towards inevitable conflagration.
Dexter explores racism with a cold eye in Train--rarely politically correct and always unafraid to find pettiness in the lives of liberal whites, beatniks, philanthropists, and powerful African-Americans. Outside of the purity of Train's golf swing, Dexter finds little to celebrate in the troubled times, and every page offers the possibility of new catastrophe. Occasionally, with this abundance of disaster, Dexter seems to lose track, and a few of his subplots (like the story of a hideously burned reporter who tries to uncover the truth behind the killings on a sailboat) never quite get resolved. Yet, Train is not a bleak novel, and Packard's detachment lends the book an air of dark comedy. When Dexter writes, "Packard was amused with the world at large" he could just as well be writing about himself: curious, entertained, fascinated, but never unsettled by the grotesquery of human existence. --Patrick O'Kellley
Train is a 18-year-old black caddy at an exclusive L.A. country club. He is a golf prodigy, but the year is 1953 and there is no such thing as a black golf prodigy. Nevertheless, Train draws the interest of Miller Packard, a gambler whose smiling, distracted air earned him the nickname "the Mile Away Man." Packard's easy manner hides a proclivity for violence, and he remains an enigma to Train even months later when they are winning high stakes matches against hustlers throughout the country. Packard is also drawn to Norah Still, a beautiful woman scared in a hideous crime, a woman who finds Packard's tendency toward violence both alluring and frightening. In the ensuing triangular relationship kindness is never far from cruelty.
In Train, National Book Award-winning Pete Dexter creates a startling, irresistibly readable book that crackles with suspense and the live-wire voices of its characters.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Seller: books-livres11.com, NOTRE DAME DE MONTS, France
Couverture souple. Condition: Très bon. Résumé : Dans la société raciste de Los Angeles en 1953, Lionel Walk, dit Train, est un caddie noir de 18 ans. Ses dons pour le golf le font repérer par l'inspecteur Miller Packard. Mais les Noirs n'ont pas de place sur le green. Lorsque, au cours du cambriolage d'un yacht, le propriétaire est tué et sa femme violée par deux caddies, Train est renvoyé. Une longue période d'errance commence. LIVRAISON GRATUITE DANS LE MONDE ENTIER. LIVRE (S) ENVELOPPÉ (S) DANS DU PLASTIQUE A BULLES, ENVOI RAPIDE ET SOIGNÉ. Seller Inventory # ca5281
Quantity: 1 available
Quantity: 1 available
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: medimops, Berlin, Germany
Condition: acceptable. Ausreichend/Acceptable: Exemplar mit vollständigem Text und sämtlichen Abbildungen oder Karten. Schmutztitel oder Vorsatz können fehlen. Einband bzw. Schutzumschlag weisen unter Umständen starke Gebrauchsspuren auf. / Describes a book or dust jacket that has the complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. (which must be noted). Binding, dust jacket (if any), etc may also be worn. Seller Inventory # M02757810960-B
Quantity: 2 available
Seller: medimops, Berlin, Germany
Condition: good. Befriedigend/Good: Durchschnittlich erhaltenes Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit Gebrauchsspuren, aber vollständigen Seiten. / Describes the average WORN book or dust jacket that has all the pages present. Seller Inventory # M02757810960-G
Quantity: 4 available
Seller: medimops, Berlin, Germany
Condition: very good. Gut/Very good: Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit wenigen Gebrauchsspuren an Einband, Schutzumschlag oder Seiten. / Describes a book or dust jacket that does show some signs of wear on either the binding, dust jacket or pages. Seller Inventory # M02757810960-V
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: RECYCLIVRE, Paris, France
Condition: Très bon. Merci, votre achat aide à financer des programmes de lutte contre l'illettrisme. Seller Inventory # 2275202312282PFL12757810960
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: RECYCLIVRE, Paris, France
Condition: Bon. Merci, votre achat aide à financer des programmes de lutte contre l'illettrisme. Seller Inventory # 6146202009113PBW12757810960
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Chapitre.com : livres et presse ancienne, LAMNAY, France
Paperback. Condition: OKAZ. il s'appelle lionel walk, mais on le surnomme train. il a dix-huit ans, il est noir et travaille comme caddie dans un club huppé de los angeles. il est doué pour le golf et s'exerce en cachette jusqu'au jour oú packard, un inspecteur au passé trouble, le remarque. mais dans les années 1950, les noirs ne sont bons qu'à porter les sacs des blancs. un roman sombre et troublant, tendu à l'extrême. - Nombre de page(s) : 349 - Poids : 188g - Langue : ANGLAIS (ETATS-UNIS) - Genre : Policier / Thriller grand format POINTS POLICIER. Seller Inventory # O2374792-666
Quantity: 2 available