- Hardcover: 374 pages
- Publisher: Henry Holt & Co (May 1995)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0805026541
- ISBN-13: 978-0805026542
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.5 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,638,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Dixon's 1991 novel, Frog, earned him NBA and PEN/Faulkner nominations. His latest, Interstate, is equally distinctive and imaginative in portraying human peculiarities and the search for order in the seemingly irrational and meaningless contemporary American universe. The novel brilliantly explores the alterations of memory, trauma and guilt in parents whose children have been casualties of violence. Like all of Dixon's work, it is a demanding read; the edgy, insistent, run-on dialogue, in particular, requires focused attention. The story is told eight times. While the inciting incident remains the same, with each retelling, new dimensions are added to or subtracted from the plot and characters. The question Dixon raises is what really haunts us: What would you do if the unthinkable happened? The critical event is this: a father is driving home on the highway with his little girls in the back seat; some men in a minivan drive up alongside and shoot through the window, killing one of the girls. In offering different scenarios from this point on, Dixon challenges the reader to leap imaginatively into the experience. One father risks his marriage, his relationship with his remaining child and his freedom to find the killer. Another makes his dead child's memory into a religion, praying the hospital will tell him "she's saved," although he knows she's dead. With each variation Dixon implicitly asks: How can you be sure the incident happened the way you remember, or the way you've been told? Reading Interstate is like being a passenger in a car speeding along the highway of the mind, swerving in and out of what is real and imagined, on the edge of losing control yet not losing it, because the driver knows what he's doing. With characteristic directness, Dixon's crisis-mode narrative runs together in one seemingly jumbled, breathless rush, with evocative thoughts causing memories to surface not just in the minds of the narrators but in the reader's mind as well. Jarringly perceptive and darkly compelling, this novel will confirm Dixon as a writer of stature. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Now here's a novel idea: a work in which each of eight chapters consists entirely of a single long paragraph. But there's a method to Dixon's seeming stylistic madness, and this follow-up to his acclaimed Frog (a finalist for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner award; reviewed in LJ 1/92) is in fact a case of form following function. The eight narratives are alternative replays of a terrible, defining moment that transpires in the book's opening pages: an act of random violence in which a man and his two daughters are shot at by punks in a passing van, and one of the girls is killed. Dixon's dense, plain-spoken prose perfectly mirrors the chaotic workings of a mind riddled with rage and guilt, where every thought and utterance is second-guessed. A timely, disturbing work that belongs in every fiction collection.
-?David Sowd, formerly with Stark Cty. District Lib. Canton, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-?David Sowd, formerly with Stark Cty. District Lib. Canton, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Long, Strange Trip Indeed,
By T. Sims "Nomi54" (Detroit) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Interstate: A Novel (Paperback)
Dixon's INTERSTATE is an intersting read...a novel that held my interest even though I didn't think it could. Confusing at first, but soon finds it's own rhythm, and begins to work on a complete unique path of logic. The first work of Dixon's I've read, I will probably attempt to read the masive FROG, based on the weird strength and twisted characterization found in INTERSTATE.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Love Him or Hate Him,
By
This review is from: Interstate: A Novel (Paperback)
dixon is a one-in-a-kind writer. a friend pointed out to me: he's either doing something radical or just doing something no other writer wants to do. so love him or hate him, he's the type who doesn't give a damn. this book, like most of his other novels, could be quite torturous to read, but the reader will find it rewarding upon finish reading it.
1.0 out of 5 stars
awful,
By Ann (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Interstate: A Novel (Paperback)
This book is stupid. The idea of the book is okay but the acutal text is horrid. Its a long boring book i wouldnt want anyone to read.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
