Romantic: A Novel - Softcover

Gowdy, Barbara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312423241 ISBN 13: 9780312423247

Publisher: Picador, 2004

Synopsis

When she is nine-years-old, Louise Kirk's mother disappears, leaving a note that reads only--and incorrectly--"Louise knows how to work the washing machine." It is not long before a strange couple and their adopted son, Abel, move in across the street. Louise quickly grows close with the exotic Mrs. Richter, but saves her stronger, more lasting affections for Mrs. Richter's intelligent son. From this childhood friendship evolves a love that will bind Louise and Abel forever, and though Abel moves away and Louise matures into adulthood, her attachment grows dangerously, fiercely fixed.

About this title

Review:

"[A] heartbreaking and compassionate novel...Gowdy is a miraculous writer. The pages of The Romantic brim over with so much real life they practically breathe." --Chicago Tribune

"Few writers are able to meld the serious and the comic to such poignant effect...a brilliant evocation." --The Boston Globe

"[A] masterful narration that moves seamlessly back and forth in time...clear-eyed." --Los Angeles Times

"I had to admire Gowdy's elegant structure.... Louise's descriptions of her feelings for Abel are carefully constructed and, at times, flat-out beautiful.... [Gowdy] has found a perfect vehicle for her peculiar talents." --The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher:

‘The Romantic [is] Barbara Gowdy’s very tender portrait of the relationship between Abel and Louise, doomed by Abel’s ongoing affair with alcohol... Gowdy has always been an expert at getting inside the heads of people who don’t quite fit in. Here, the misfit is Louise, who has that exhilarating feeling of being rescued when she finds her soulmate, Abel. As children, they play in their ravine hideout in a loving exercise in creativity. But as teenagers, drugs and booze take over, and Louise unravels when she can’t break the pattern: he loves her, he loves to drink more, and when he drinks he fucks around. And she still loves him. Gowdy’s gift is in making us understand how this kind of thing can happen, how somebody can sustain a commitment to a person so obviously going into the crapper. We know Abel’s going to die. The question is, will Louise’s self-worth and whatever life ambitions she has left die with him?... As always, the detail is precise, the observations canny. I do miss the crazy humour of Gowdy’s earlier books. But there’s something else going on here – a gorgeously painful and wholly grown-up sense of longing. That’s just as important.’ Susan G. Cole

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0312423241
• ISBN 13: 9780312423247
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320