Southern Cross the Dog - Softcover

Cheng, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062225022 ISBN 13: 9780062225023

Publisher: Ecco Press, 2014

Synopsis

In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O'Connor, Bill Cheng's Southern Cross the Dog is an epic literary debut in which the bonds between three childhood friends are upended by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In its aftermath, one young man must choose between the lure of the future and the claims of the past.

Having lost virtually everything in the fearsome storm--home, family, first love--Robert Chatham embarks on an odyssey that takes him through the deep South, from the desperation of a refugee camp to the fiery and raucous brothel Hotel Beau-Miel and into the Mississippi hinterland, where he joins a crew hired to clear the swamp and build a dam.

Along his journey he encounters piano-playing hustlers, ne'er-do-well Klansmen, well-intentioned whores, and a family of fur trappers, the L'Etangs, whose very existence is threatened by the swamp-clearing around them. The L'Etang brothers are fierce and wild but there is something soft about their cousin Frankie, possibly the only woman capable of penetrating Robert's darkest places and overturning his conviction that he's marked by the devil.

Teeming with language that renders both the savage beauty and complex humanity of our shared past, Southern Cross the Dog is a tour de force that heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction.

About this title

Review:

"Scintillating. . . . Unforgettable."--Wall Street Journal

"Lush and so very often poetic. . . . "Southern Cross the Dog" has large and small echoes of masterful works, but we should not make any mistake--Cheng has carved out his own creative and accomplished path."--Edward P. Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Known World" and "All Aunt Hagar's Children"

"Fantastic and beautifully written, "Southern Cross the Dog" is an epic and bluesy throwdown in the Southern tradition."--Nathan Englander, author of "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank"

"A vibrant world grows from the pages of "Southern Cross the Dog" and its dynamic mix of language and place. Bill Cheng conjures history with precision and style in his exceptional debut."--Ravi Howard, author of "Like Trees, Walking"

."..dark, lyrical debut novel... Cheng imbues the landscape with Faulkner-esque poetry. ...the prose is arresting."--The New Yorker (Briefly Noted review)

"A rich, rollicking debut. . . a phantasmagorical excursion into a world. . . marked by bad moons, evil winds, backwater magic, and hoodoo curses."--Boston Globe

"[A] dark, lyrical debut novel... Cheng imbues the landscape with Faulkner-esque poetry. ...the prose is arresting."--The New Yorker (Briefly Noted review)

A rich, rollicking debut. . . a phantasmagorical excursion into a world. . . marked by bad moons, evil winds, backwater magic, and hoodoo curses. --Boston Globe"

Scintillating. . . . Unforgettable. --Wall Street Journal"

With its evocative settings and rich McCarthyesque language, this Southern gothic packs a punch like a mean drunk. --Publishers Weekly (starred review)"

Book Description:

In the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Connor, Bill Cheng leads the new generation of great American novelists.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0062225022
• ISBN 13: 9780062225023
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336