Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... The Teacher's Daughterpor Richard B. Wright
Ninguno Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Jan Harper, 36, lives in the basement of her mother's suburban home. A high-school English teacher, Jan worries that she's on the brink of wear-ing heavy walking shoes and retreating farther into her single, somewhat solitary existence. She's just come off a failed affair with a married man, discovering she wasn't the first mistress in his life. She's slightly jealous of her friend Max, who's always been "a little too flighty," according to Jan's mother. And the only prospect for a relationship comes colored in the dull gray form of Bruce, a fellow teacher. So it's a complete surprise to Jan when a darkly handsome man insists on stepping into her tidy suburban world. James is younger, unemployed, has a prison record and a passion for his Trans-Am-- complete with fuzzy dice. He also has a passion for Jan, although Jan has seri-ous doubts about a future with him. There's something about James that both charms and repels her--an unpredictability that's about to shatter both of their lives. Once again, Richard B. Wright has shown that he is the master of brilliantly realized characters and evocative story-telling that shines in the details. This is a novel of collision, Jan from her sterile middle-class world and James from his seedy shadow one, both searching for love and wholeness. Richard B. Wright fans will not be disappointed. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNinguno
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |
The title character, Janice Harper, is a high school English teacher in the Toronto suburb. On the brink of "old-maid-hood," Janice is trying to rebound from a summer affair with a married man. She becomes involved with an unemployed and uneducated man several years younger. James Hicks, compared more than once in the narrative to "that actor, John Travolta," has an estranged wife and young son. A high school dropout with a prison record, he aspires to a better life. He latches desperately onto Janice, hoping she can help, but his own brutishness and lack of sophistication dooms their affair from the beginning. Aided and abetted by a superb cast of supporting characters from the pasts of both principals, the story moves briskly along and drew me quickly in. Janice, who lives in a basement apartment of her parents' house - her teacher father has died two years before the story open - feels life passing her by and longs for change, which Hicks certainly supplies.
Janice Harper reminded me in some ways of Rachel Cameron, the teacher heroine of Margaret Laurence's classic Canadian novel, A JEST OF GOD. Wright's tale is, however, considerably darker and injects elements of danger and physical violence not found in the Laurence book. In fact, the get-rich-quick plans and plotting of Hicks and his shady friends also brought to mind the noir fiction of Jim Thompson. An odd comparison perhaps, but sorry, there it is.
The ending of THE TEACHER'S DAUGHTER rather surprised me, but actually, it is perfect. I won't say any more. Except that I enjoyed this book very much and will be reading more of Richard B. Wright. Very highly recommended.
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )