Gone for Good (Ballantine Reader's Circle) - Softcover

Childress, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345414535 ISBN 13: 9780345414533

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, 1999

Synopsis

By the time Newsweek dubs thirty-four-year-old Ben (Superman) Willis "The New Super-Poet of Pop," he has millions of adoring fans, piles of money, a beautiful family--and a secret desire to chuck it all and disappear forever. He gets his wish after a violent storm, some wicked Mexican weed, and a faulty compass cause his precious plane to crash on a remote tropical island.

When he hears Marilyn Monroe's breathless voice saying he's "kind of cute," Superman thinks he has woken up dead. Amelia Earhart is there too, noting the worst landing she has ever seen, while Jimmy Hoffa cooks up some fine chicken barbecue. They never died, you see. They just came here to escape their celebrity--invited guests, living out their lives in total privacy, all expenses paid, every need fulfilled. To Superman, it is heaven on earth.

Until he discovers the one little catch: he can never leave. . . .

About this title

Review:

"A story that takes off like a 747 and doesn't let up until the very end."
--San Francisco Examiner

"WELL, MARK CHILDRESS HAS GONE AND DONE IT AGAIN, GIVEN US A NOVEL FULL OF HEART AND MAGIC, POETRY, AND GREAT GOOD HUMOR."
--Anne Lamott

"WONDROUSLY IMAGINATIVE . . . BRIMMING WITH MAGIC AND MYSTERY . . . A modern-day fable with echoes of Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, Peter Pan, and The Wizard of Oz . . . A terrific summer read--meaty enough to make you think, but breezy enough to consume with almost effortless delight."
--The Charlotte Observer

"ENTERTAINING . . . EXHILARATING."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer

From the Author:

Advance praise for "Gone for Good"
PAT CONROY: "Mark Childress's new novel, Gone for Good, is wildly imaginative, entirely original, and as quirky as a tequila worm. It's drawn on a very large canvas and Mr. Childress, as always, stretches his enormous talent into new and amazing shapes. This book is part magic realism, part Peter Pan as told by Truman Capote to Antoine de St.-Exupery. And I expect his next book to be about polar exploration."

CLYDE EDGERTON: "If you like rock and roll, rhythm and blues, jazz, bluegrass, circuses, state fairs, or volcanoes, then you'll love Gone for Good. And beneath the fine music, fabulous rides, and bright lights of this book run the warm currents of home and love. The magic of this book is that Mark Childress somehow does it all together.... Somehow Mark Childress has managed to both celebrate and criticize this, the craziest of all Ages, the Age of Celebrity."

FANNIE FLAGG: "Mark Childress's new book, "Gone for Good," proves once again that he remains one of the most original and imaginative writers of our generation."

ANNE LAMOTT: "Well, Mark Childress has gone and done it again, given us a novel full of heart and magic, poetry, and great good humor."

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0345414535
• ISBN 13: 9780345414533
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400