The Buffalo Soldier: A Novel (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

Bohjalian, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375725466 ISBN 13: 9780375725463

Publisher: Random House USA Inc, 2003

Synopsis

With his trademark emotional heft and storytelling skill, bestselling author Chris Bohjalian presents a resonant novel about the unconventional family that forms after Terry and Laura Sheldon, a Vermont storm trooper and his wife grieving the loss of their twin daughters, take in a foster child.

His name is Alfred; he is ten years old and African American. And he has passed through so many indifferent families that he can't believe that his new one will last.

In the ensuing months Terry and Laura will struggle to emerge from their shell of grief only to face an unexpected threat to their marriage; Terry's involvement with another woman. Meanwhile, Alfred cautiously enters the family circle, and befriends an elderly neighbor who inspires him with the story of the buffalo soldiers, the black cavalrymen of the old West. Out of the entwining and unfolding of their lives, The Buffalo Soldier creates a suspenseful, moving portrait of a family, infused by Bohjalian's moral complexity and narrative assurance.

About this title

Review:

"In The Buffalo Soldier, Bohjalian proves once again that he's a master novelist." -The Boston Globe

"Bohjalian plunges [his characters] into a dramatic situation so powerful that even their quiet voices cannot fail to be heard. . . .The Buffalo Soldier is imbued with hope and the possibility for redemption." -The Washington Post

"Bohjalian gives us fine-grained detail and beautifully observed domestic psychology." -The Los Angeles Times

"Beautifully wrought. . . . A moving account of personal strength and the joy of belonging." -San Francisco Chronicle

"If it's captivating literature you're after, The Buffalo Soldier earns a solid A." -Entertainment Weekly

Synopsis:

Young Alfred is a ten year old African-American boy from Burlington whose life to date has been a trial. Shuttled from foster family to group home, the boy is on the verge of being lost to the kind of despair that can envelop unwanted children. He cautiously enters the Sheldon family circle, barely willing to hope that he can find a permanent place for himself among these kind people, who are still distracted by grief following the disappearance of their twin daughters, drowned two years before in a flash flood. Across the street from the Sheldons live an older couple, who take Alfred under their wings as surrogate grandparents, and it is they who introduce him to the history of the buffalo soldiers, African-American cavalry troopers whose reputation for bravery and honour inspires the child. Just as life seems to be settling into some sort of normal patterns, Terry who has never been unfaithful to Laura finds himself deeply attracted to the solace offered by another woman's arms. Their encounter, brief as it is, finds the woman pregnant with his baby, a child Terry suddenly realizes he urgently wants.

THE BUFFALO SOLIDER is a lyrical and richly textured story that explores the complexity of marriage, the bond between parents and children, and the relationships that cause a community to be a family.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0375725466
• ISBN 13: 9780375725463
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432