Synopses & Reviews
Stunning and brutally powerful, Falconer tells the story of a man named Farragut, his crime and punishment, and his struggle to remain a man in a universe bent on beating him back into childhood. Only John Cheever could deliver these grand themes with the irony, unforced eloquence, and exhilarating humor that make Falconer such a triumphant work of the moral imagination.
Review
"Cheever's prison novel is a metaphysical, metaphorical foray into the realm of
quasi-religiosity. The central character here is Farragut: wealthy, Waspy, wimpy; academician, husband, father, and loser, serving time at Falconer Prison for fratricide, an imprisonment that leads to redemption and release—literally, in a body bag disguised as a corpse. Falconer is alternately complex and simplistic, amusing and distressing, memorable and forgettable. If the reader can't decide which, it's because Cheever offers little evidence of having decided for himself." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
In a nightmarish prison a convict named Farragut struggles to remain a man. Out of Farragut's suffering and astonishing salvation, Cheever crafted his most powerful work of fiction.
Synopsis
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - #1
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
- Stunning and brutally powerful, o
ne of the most important novels of our time (The New York Times) tells the story of a man named Farragut, his crime and punishment, and his struggle to remain a man in a universe bent on beating him back into childhood.
In a nightmarish prison, out of Farragut's suffering and astonishing salvation, Cheever crafted his most powerful work of fiction. Only John Cheever could deliver these grand themes with the irony, unforced eloquence, and exhilarating humor that make Falconer such a triumphant work of the moral imagination.
Synopsis
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Stunning and brutally powerful, one of the most important novels of our time (The New York Times) tells the story of a man named Farragut, his crime and punishment, and his struggle to remain a man in a universe bent on beating him back into childhood. In a nightmarish prison, out of Farragut's suffering and astonishing salvation, Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Cheever crafted his most powerful work of fiction. Only Cheever could deliver these grand themes with the irony, unforced eloquence, and exhilarating humor that make Falconer such a triumphant work of the moral imagination.