Driftless
by David Rhodes
When David Rhodes’ first three novels were published in the mid-seventies, he was acclaimed as “one of the best eyes in recent fiction” (John Gardner), and compared favorably to Sherwood Anderson. In 1976, a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the waist down, and unpublished for the subsequent three decades.
With Driftless, Rhodes returns to the midwestern landscape he knows so well, offering a fascinating and entirely unsentimental portrait of a town apparently left behind by the march of time. Home to a few hundred people yet absent from state maps, Words, Wisconsin, comes richly to life by way of an extraordinary cast of characters. Among them, a middle-aged couple guards the family farm from the mendacious schemes of their milk co-operative; a lifelong paraplegic suddenly regains the use of her legs, only to find herself crippled by fury at her sister and caretaker; a woman of conflicting impulses and pastor of the local Friends church stumbles upon an enlightenment she never expected; a cantankerous retiree discovers a cougar living in his haymow, haunting him like a childhood memory; and a former drifter forever alters the ties that bind a community together.
At once intimate and funny, wise and generous, Driftless is an unforgettable story of contemporary life in rural America.
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Driftless is available as an audiobook from Blackstone Audio.
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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:"After thirty years, Rhodes has delivered, in Driftless, a version of Midwestern pastoral that shoots him to the highest rank of American writers. Together, [Driftless and Rock Island Line] constitute a credible idealization of the American character, free from its political reductions, as worthy of attention as Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Twain, and Hemingway’s characterizations of the ideal American. . . . [Driftless contains] one of the most moving descriptions of death in American fiction." Harvard Review
"Encompassing and incisive, comedic and profound, Driftless is a radiant novel of community and courage." Booklist, starred review
“Mr. Rhodes, a catalytic fabulist, seems to belong in the long line of tall taletellers from Bunyan to Pynchon . . . to Walker Percy. Rhodes has a wide-open talent and there’s humor, imagination and drive all under its wingspread.” Kirkus
“Rhodes proves that there is still vigorous life in the dark Gothic roots of great American novels.” Peter W. Jordan, The Tennessean
“Rhodes is a brilliant writer.” Alicia Metcalf Miller, Cleveland Plain-Dealer
“I have seldom read a book that so proves that each one of us stars in our own lives. Read this book some place where no one is depending on you for any other calls on your time or attention. Supper can wait.” Joanne Greenberg, author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
“Driftless has been a long time coming, but definitely worth the wait. This is David Rhodes's most accomplished work yet—vividly imagined, shrewd, and compassionate. He is a master at uncovering the extraordinary lives of seemingly ordinary people. The characters of his small rural town become as mysterious, interconnected, and richly idiosyncratic as the landscape they struggle against and embrace. A wonderful novel.” Joseph Kanon, author of Los Alamos and The Good German
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Price:
$ 24.00
Binding: Hardcover
Availability This product is currently not available.
out of stock
Publisher: Milkweed Editions
Published: 2008
Size: 5.5 x 8.5
Pages: 352 pp
ISBN: 9781571310590
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