Rock Island Line
by David Rhodes
Published in 1975 to great acclaim, Rock Island Line introduces a memorable character in American fiction: July Montgomery. Born and raised in the idyll of Sharon Center, Iowa—a life of four-leaf clovers, dogs, and fishing—the young boy is rocked by the tragic death of his parents, a blow that precipitates his bitter exile from Eden. Fleeing via the Rock Island Line, July lands in Philadelphia and fashions a ghostly and insulated existence in an underground train station.
When a young woman frees July from his malaise, they return together to the Iowa heartland, where the novel soars to its heartrending consummation. Restored to the setting of his beloved grandparents and parents, and yet perched on the precipice of a disaster that could herald his end, July must decide whether to continue running, or stand still and hope for the promised dawn of Paradise Regained.
Read an excerpt from Rock Island Line
David Rhodes
Author's Bio:As a young man, DAVID RHODES worked in fields,
hospitals, and factories across Iowa, nurturing his love of reading
along the way. After receiving an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in
1971, he published three novels in rapid succession: The Last Fair
Deal Going Down (Atlantic/Little, Brown, 1972), The Easter
House (Harper & Row, 1974), and Rock Island Line (Harper & Row, 1975). A motorcycle accident in 1976 left him
paralyzed from the chest down, which brought a temporary halt to his
publishing career. In 2008, he returned to publication with Driftless,
which has been heralded as a critical success and the “best work of
fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years” (Chicago Tribune).
Rhodes lives with his wife, Edna, in rural Wisconsin.
Quotes:“‘A new, hitherto unknown novelist swam into my ken,’ Floyd Dell wrote in his autobiography more than forty years ago about a time back further still when a Midwesterner named Sherwood Anderson pressed a manuscript into his hands . . . American readers can now enjoy a similar shock of recognition by picking up . . . David Rhodes.” Alan Cheuse, New York Times Book Review
“One of the best eyes in recent fiction belongs to the novelist David Rhodes. Rhodes’ eye, like any fine novelist’s, is accurate both about literal detail . . . and about metaphorical equivalencies. The main point be noticed, however, is that nothing in Rhodes’ vision is secondhand.” John Gardner, from On Becoming a Novelist
“Wildly imaginative.” Saturday Review
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Price:
$ 15.00
Binding: Paperback Reissue
Availability In Stock: 99
Available Immediately
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Published: 2008
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9781571310606
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