Synopsis
When David Rhodes' first three novels were published in the mid-seventies, he was acclaimed as "one of the best eyes in recent fiction" (John Gardner), and compared favorably to Sherwood Anderson. In 1976, a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the chest down, and unpublished for the subsequent three decades. Driftless heralds a triumphant return to the Midwestern landscape Rhodes knows so well, offering a fascinating and entirely unsentimental portrait of a town apparently left behind by the march of time. At once intimate and funny, wise and generous, Driftless is an unforgettable story of contemporary life in rural America. DAVID RHODES is the author of The Last Fair Deal Going Down, The Easter House, and Rock Island Line. He lives with his wife, Edna, in rural Wisconsin. Look inside for a reading group guide and a Q&A with David Rhodes.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
By the end of the darkly rhapsodic novel Rock Island Line (1975), July Montgomery has suffered enough tragedies for several cursed lifetimes even though he is only 22. His creator, on the other hand, was riding high as each of his three novels met with acclaim. But Rhodes was about to face his own season of loss. Now, in a triumphant return after 30 years (see the adjacent "Story behind the Story" for details), Rhodes picks up the thread of July's life with deepened powers, writing not in shadow but in light. As for July, after two decades of drifting, he has finally found peace in the small town of Words, Wisconsin. Respected and cherished, he is the hub of this brimming novel, each spoke a suspenseful story line about the unexpectedly dramatic lives of the good people of Words. The compelling cast includes Graham, a farmer, and Cora, his whistleblower wife intent on exposing agribusiness corruption; Winifred, the high-strung pastor; and the incredible Brasso sisters: large, nurturing Violet and tiny, smart Olivia, who rules the book from her wheelchair. In vividly realized scenes involving family secrets, legal battles, gambling, and miracle cures, Rhodes illuminates the wisdom acquired through hard work, the ancient covenant of farming, and the balm of kindness. Encompassing and incisive, comedic and profound, Driftless is a radiant novel of community and courage.
-- Donna Seaman; Booklist Starred Review, September 1, 2008
Rhodes's first novel in more than 30 years (Rock Island Line, 1975, etc.) provides a welcome antidote to overheated urban fiction. When folks have a drink in Words, Wis., it's generally coffee or hot water with lemon that they turn to. When they cuss, theysay "drat." Life is slow and rural; it's farm country, and locals care about the rhythms of the seasons, their roots in the community and each other. All is not well, however, when the milk cooperative tries to increase its profit margins at the expense of honest farmers. That doesn't sit well with Grahm and Cora Shotwell, who try to expose the cooperative's machinations. This is but one episode among many, however, in a deliberately episodic novel. The lack of a central narrative thread makes it possible for Rhodes to introduce us in stages to the community's major players. We make the acquaintance of newly-minted pastor Winifred Smith, whose cryptic spiritual epiphany starts to inform every aspect of her life; of July Montgomery, who mysteriously showed up some 20 years ago and whose quiet devotion to farming conceals a tragic past; of Grahm's sister Gail, who works in the local plastics factory and plays bass in a band; and of sisters Violet and Olivia Brasso, the latter an 89-pound invalid who's emotionally rescued by roughneck Wade Armbuster through the unlikely medium of dogfighting. Things happen in Words, but in a decidedly slow way. Cora gets fired from her job, Winifred tries to explain the nature of her spiritual awakening, curmudgeonly Rusty Smith hires some Amish carpenters to finish up some work on his home. Most importantly, people learn to overcome their reticence, occasionally even opening themselves to the possibility of falling in love. Olivia recognizes the essential stability of the community by declaring that "new is only old rearranged." A quiet novel of depth and simplicity.
-- Kirkus
After a 30-year absence from publishing due to a motorcycle accidentthat left him paralyzed, Rhodes is back with a novel featuring July Montgomery, the hero of his 1975 novel, Rock Island Line, which movingly involves him with the fates of several characters who live in the small town of Words, Wis. Through July, we meet Olivia Brasso, an invalid who loses her family's savings at a casino; parolee Wade Armbuster, who befriends Olivia after she is mugged; Winifred Smith, Olivia's new pastor; Jacob Helm, a widower who finds himself falling in love with Winnie; Gail Shotwell, a local musician who has an unusual reaction when her idol offers to record one of her songs; and Gail's brother, Grahm, and his wife, Cora, who blow the whistle on the milk cooperative that has been cheating them and other farmers. It takes a while for all these stories to kick in, but once they do, Rhodes shows he still knows how to keep readers riveted. Add a blizzard, a marauding cougar and some rabble-rousing militiamen, and the result is a novel that is as affecting as it is pleasantly overstuffed.
-- Publishers Weekly
A fast-moving story about small town life with characters that seem to have walked off the pages of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology.
-- Wall Street Journal
A terrific novel. . . Rhodes tells the story without haste, much as he speaks -- thoughtfully, with quiet insight. The characters' perceptions about the landscape, their lives and each other are continually arresting yet almost casually right on.
-- Isthmus Quarterly
By the end of the darkly rhapsodic novel "Rock Island Line" (1975), July Montgomery has suffered enough tragedies for several cursed lifetimes even though he is only 22. His creator, on the other hand, was riding high as each of his three novels met with acclaim. But Rhodes was about to face his own season of loss. Now, in a triumphant return after 30 years (see the adjacent "Story behind the Story" for details), Rhodes picks up the thread of July's life with deepened powers, writing not in shadow but in light. As for July, after two decades of drifting, he has finally found peace in the small town of Words, Wisconsin. Respected and cherished, he is the hub of this brimming novel, each spoke a suspenseful story line about the unexpectedly dramatic lives of the good people of Words. The compelling cast includes Graham, a farmer, and Cora, his whistleblower wife intent on exposing agribusiness corruption; Winifred, the high-strung pastor; and the incredible Brasso sisters: large, nurturing Violet and tiny, smart Olivia, who rules the book from her wheelchair. In vividly realized scenes involving family secrets, legal battles, gambling, and miracle cures, Rhodes illuminates the wisdom acquired through hard work, the ancient covenant of farming, and the balm of kindness. Encompassing and incisive, comedic and profound, "Driftless" is a radiant novel of community and courage.
-- Donna Seaman; Booklist Starred Review, September 1, 2008
Rhodes's first novel in more than 30 years ("Rock Island Line," 1975, etc.) provides a welcome antidote to overheated urban fiction. When folks have a drink in Words, Wis., it's generally coffee or hot water with lemon that they turn to. When they cuss, they say "drat." Life is slow and rural; it's farm country, and locals care about the rhythms of the seasons, their roots in the community and each other. All is not well, however, when the milk cooperative tries to increase its profit margins at the expense of honest farmers. That doesn't sit well with Grahm and Cora Shotwell, who try to expose the cooperative's machinations. This is but one episode among many, however, in a deliberately episodic novel. The lack of a central narrative thread makes it possible for Rhodes to introduce us in stages to the community's major players. We make the acquaintance of newly-minted pastor Winifred Smith, whose cryptic spiritual epiphany starts to inform every aspect of her life; of July Montgomery, who mysteriously showed up some 20 years ago and whose quiet devotion to farming conceals a tragic past; of Grahm's sister Gail, who works in the local plastics factory and plays bass in a band; and of sisters Violet and Olivia Brasso, the latter an 89-pound invalid who's emotionally rescued by roughneck Wade Armbuster through the unlikely medium of dogfighting. Things happen in Words, but in a decidedly slow way. Cora gets fired from her job, Winifred tries to explain the nature of her spiritual awakening, curmudgeonly Rusty Smith hires some Amish carpenters to finish up some work on his home. Most importantly, people learn to overcome their reticence, occasionally even opening themselves to the possibility of falling in love. Olivia recognizes the essential stability of the community by declaring that "new is only old rearranged." A quiet novel of depth and simplicity.
-- Kirkus
A fast-moving story about small town life with characters that seemto have walked off the pages of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology.
-- Wall Street Journal
A terrific novel. . . Rhodes tells the story without haste, much as he speaks -- thoughtfully, with quiet insight. The characters' perceptions about the landscape, their lives and each other are continually arresting yet almost casually right on.
-- Isthmus Quarterly
Set in a rural Wisconsin town, the book presents a series of portraits that resemble Edgar Lee Masters's "Spoon River Anthology" in their vividness and in the cumulative picture they create of village life.
-- New Yorker (December 1, 2008)
[Rhodes's] finest work yet. . . . "Driftless" is the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years.
-- Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune
2010 All Iowa Reads Selection
"Now, after what had to have been years of effort beyond the usual struggle of trying to make a good novel, we get [Rhodes's] fourth, and, I have to shout it out, finest book yet. "Driftless" is the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years."
"--Chicago Tribune"
"A profound and enduring paean to rural America. Radiant in its prose and deep in its quiet understanding of human needs."
"--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"
""Driftless" is a fast-moving story about small town life with characters that seem to have walked off the pages of Edgar Lee Masters's 'Spoon River Anthology.'"
"--Wall Street Journal"
"Comprised of a large number of short chapters, the novel opens with a prologue reminiscent of Steinbeck's beautiful tribute to the Salinas Valley in the opening of "East of Eden," with a little touch of Michener's prologue to his novel "Hawaii." The book moves at a stately pace as it offers deep philosophy and meditative asides about life in Words, Wisconsin, in the Driftless zone, which is to say, about life on earth."
"--NPR, "All Things Considered""
"Few books have the power to transport the way "Driftless" does, and it's Rhodes' eye for detail that we have to thank for it."
"--Time Out Chicago"
"A wry and generous book. "Driftless" shares a rhythm with the farming community it documents, and its reflective pace is well-suited to characters who are far more comfortable with hard work than words."
"--Christian Science Monitor, Best Novels of 2008"
"A symphonic paean to the stillness that can be found in certain areas of the Midwest, The writing in "Driftless" is beautiful and surprising throughout, [and] it's this poetic pointillism that originally made Rhodes famous."
"--Minneapolis Star Tribune"
"["Driftless"] presents a series of portraits that resemble Edgar Lee Masters's 'Spoon River Anthology' in their vividness and in the cumulative pic
Accolades for "Driftless"
Outstanding Achievement Award, Wisconsin Library Association's Literary Award Committee
California Literary Review Best Book
"Booklist" starred review and Editor's Choice
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Chancellor's Regional Literary Award
All Iowa Reads selection, State Library of Iowa's Center for the Book
Midwestern Independent Booksellers Association (MIBA) Honor Award
"Christian Science Monitor "top ten books of the year
"Now, after what had to have been years of effort beyond the usual struggle of trying to make a good novel, we get [Rhodes's] fourth, and, I have to shout it out, finest book yet. "Driftless" is the best work of fiction to come out of the Midwest in many years."
"--Chicago Tribune"
"A profound and enduring paean to rural America. Radiant in its prose and deep in its quiet understanding of human needs."
"--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"
""Driftless" is a fast-moving story about small town life with characters that seem to have walked off the pages of Edgar Lee Masters's 'Spoon River Anthology.'"
"--Wall Street Journal"
"Comprised of a large number of short chapters, the novel opens with a prologue reminiscent of Steinbeck's beautiful tribute to the Salinas Valley in the opening of "East of Eden," with a little touch of Michener's prologue to his novel "Hawaii." The book moves at a stately pace as it offers deep philosophy and meditative asides about life in Words, Wisconsin, in the Driftless zone, which is to say, about life on earth."
"--NPR, "All Things Considered""
"Few books have the power to transport the way "Driftless" does, and it's Rhodes' eye for detail that we have to thank for it."
"--Time Out Chicago"
"A wry and generous book. "Driftless" shares a rhythm with the farming community it documents, and its reflective pace is well-suited to characters who are far more comfortable with hard work than words."
"--Christian Science Mon
About the Author
David Rhodes grew up near Des Moines and graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont. After receiving an MFA in Writing from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1971, he published three novels in rapid succession to acclaim: "The Last Fair Deal Going Down, The Easter House, "and "Rock Island Line." Thirty years later, Milkweed reissued these and published his newest novel, "Driftless ." He currently lives with his wife Edna in Wisconsin, and his next book, "Jewelweed" will be published in May 2013.
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