Continental Drift, Russell Banks.
It is hard for me to choose between AFFLICTION and CONTINENTAL DRIFT as my favorite novel by Russell Banks. But I am going with this one today. You may have seen the filmed version of AFFLICTION, a tremendous film with Nick Nolte and James Coburn.
Bob Dubois is a furnace repairman in a blue-collar town in New Hampshire, a state the American Dream has bypassed. Although Bob has a wife, three kids and a steady, if low-paying job, he is persuaded to look for a better life in Miami by his brother.
Bob is a good man although not a smart one. The sixties has persuaded him that there is something better out there. That it is foolish to be satisfied with a meager living in a depressed town.
Another character is also seeking a better life in Miami. A female Haitian refuge, who truly does need asylum and comes to the U.S. in a perilous manner. These two lives intersect in a Florida that is the antithesis of paradise, both characters suffering tragedy. This is not a happy book or one to escape into, but it is one that presents characters and situations that seem real and compelling.
(And sadly the life of a Haitian refuge would be even more precarious today).
4 comments:
This one does sound good, Patti. And sadly, I think you're right about how difficult it still is for Haitian refugees...
I've read a few of Russell Banks's novels and they were all sad. The last long book I finished was Hilary Mantel's THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT which was very very sad.
Love Banks, a fine novel
The continuation of Wolf Hall?
I believe he died not too long ago.
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