Cleaver: A Novel

In the aftermath of his celebrated interview with the president and his son's publication of an incriminating memoir, journalist and documentary filmmaker Harold Cleaver unexpectedly relocates to a remote Alpine village where he intends to spend the rest of his life, with unexpected results. 10,000 first printing.

Through terse, confrontational prose, Parks puts on display the self-absorbed and egotistical mind of notable British journalist and womanizer Harold Cleaver. After sticking it to the unnamed (though unmistakable) current president of the United States in a television interview, Cleaver should be on top of the world. But his son's just-released damning roman-à-clef, In His Shadow, disrupts Cleaver's life and moment of glory. Cleaver sequesters himself in the German mountains inside a remote, ratty cottage—the former home of a now-deceased Nazi soldier—and finds that while he can flee his fast-paced existence, his psyche is not so easily quieted. With a doll named Olga and a dog named Uli as his only companions, Cleaver finds himself in constant debate about his deceased daughter, Angela, his attempt to replace her through extra-marital affairs, and his son's betrayal. As Cleaver battles his demons and tries to come to terms with his past, his food supply diminishes and a bruising blizzard rages outside. Parks (Europa) gives readers a robust protagonist riddled with doubt, and the path he sends him down is both treacherous and cathartic. (Feb.)
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Parks, the author of Europa (1998), shortlisted for the Booker, here offers a multifaceted portrait of a crotchety journalist. Harold Cleaver, fresh off a hard-hitting interview with a cowboy-like American president, should be basking in the glowing reviews of his rapier-like wit. Instead, he heads for the remote mountains of Germany, cutting himself off from family, colleagues, and, especially, all forms of communication. He’s reeling from the recent publication of a roman á clef penned by his son, which paints a less than favorable view of Harold’s philandering, egotism, and massive neglect of his children. Determined to face down his demons in stark isolation while battling the arctic cold and primitive conditions, Cleaver finds himself obsessively thinking about his late daughter and his inept attempts to deal with his grief by engaging in serial affairs with much younger women. In a character portrait fairly shimmering with intelligence, Parks moves with facility from slapstick scenes depicting Cleaver’s towering ego to surprisingly tender moments as the great man acknowledges that he is deeply flawed and forgives himself for it. --Joanne Wilkinson