Before, During, After - Hardcover

Bausch, Richard

2.94

442 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307266265 ISBN 13: 9780307266262

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2014

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

From the recipient of the PEN/Malamud Award, the Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Rea Award for the Short Story: a gorgeously rendered, passionate account of a relationship threatened by secrets, set against the backdrop of national tragedy.

When Natasha, a talented young artist working as a congressional aide, meets Michael Faulk, an Episcopalian priest struggling with his faith, the stars seem to align. Although he is nearly two decades older, they discover in each other the happy yearning and exhilaration of lovers, and within months they are engaged. Shortly before their wedding, while Natasha is vacationing in Jamaica and Faulk is in New York attending the wedding of a family friend, the terrorist attacks of September 11 shatter the tranquillity of the nation’s summer. Alone in a state of abject terror, cut off from America and convinced that Faulk is dead, Natasha makes an error in judgment that leads to a private trauma of her own on the Caribbean shore. A few days later, she and Faulk are reunited, but the horror of that day and Natasha’s inability to speak of it inexorably divide their relationship into “before” and “after.” They move to Memphis and begin their new life together, but their marriage quickly descends into repression, anxiety, and suspicion.

In prose that is direct, exact, and lyrical, Richard Bausch plumbs the complexities of public and personal trauma, and the courage with which we learn to face them. Above all,Before, During, After is a love story, offering a penetrating and exquisite portrait of intimacy, of spiritual and physical longing, and of the secrets we convince ourselves to keep even as they threaten to destroy us. An unforgettable tour de force from one of America’s most distinguished storytellers.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

An accomplished and, at times, harrowing novel full of the kind of psychological power and exactitude that first-rate fiction does so well * Guardian * Bausch is very good at showing how rational, intelligent people allow themselves to commit the irrational act of falling in love. Superb * The Times * One of Richard Bausch's many talents is the forthright ease with which he delivers his characters-and readers-to the gravest questions of love, faith, and ultimately God, even as he nimbly hides the answers in plain sight * New York Times * Terrific... Bausch is a master storyteller who appreciates subtleties most of us can't see, much less write * Seattle Times *

Book Description:

From the prize-winning and world-renowned novelist comes a gorgeously rendered, emotionally devastating account of a relationship eroded by secrets, set against the backdrop of American's great national tragedy, 9/11.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.