From Powells.com
In an essay
written for Powells.com, Brady Udall recounts a trip he made in junior
high to an Indian reservation in Arizona for a football game. Udall was
shocked at the run-down school, but he was even more surprised when, after
the visiting team won handily, their school bus was pelted with rocks
and bottles. Through the window, Udall spied a single boy, who regarded
Udall with "a look that was a mixture of world-weariness and sad
disdain. He didn't like me, this was clear, but it seemed that he was
just too tired and spent to work up any real hate for me." Udall
knew virtually nothing about this boy, but was nonetheless haunted by
him, so much so that he eventually decided to write about him. He gave
him a name and a history, and in return, received the protagonist of this
celebrated first novel. Many critics have noted Udall's obvious debt to
Dickens, pointing out the particularly Dickensian details of his young
orphan's life: the early abandonment, the hellish boarding school, the
weird foster family, etc. But what makes the comparison most apt is the
fundamental goodness that defines his hero and the deep compassion and
humor that run through the narrative. Martin, Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
With the inventive acuity of John Irving, this riveting picaresque novel chronicles the hopes and heartbreaks of Edgar Presley Mint. Half Apache and mostly orphaned, Edgar's trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven, when the mailman's jeep accidentally runs over his head. Shunted from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, comedy, pain, and trouble accompany Edgar through a string of larger-than-life experiences. Through it all, readers will root for this irresistible innocent who never truly loses heart, and whose quest for the mailman leads him to an unexpected home.
Review
"Udall's style is reminiscent of the '60s black humorists, but he doesn't share their easy cruelty or inveterate superciliousness, making this not only an accomplished novel, but a wise one." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A remarkably assured debut novel that brings to life a unique world, tells its story with skill, and remains enthralling throughout. A bit of a miracle in its own right." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is an odyssey through the New West, where affluent Mormons and dead-end reservation kids share the same zip code and the same climate, but little else. Edgar, the wounded, utterly orphaned, and utterly courageous narrator of Brady Udall's outstanding novel, would have pleased Dickens no end. Enmeshed in these pages is some of the finest writing I've come across in a long time, as well as a story that tears at you and calls you back to it no matter what you're up to. There is also a human heart beating in here, as beautiful and profound as your own." Junot Diaz, author of Drown
Review
"I loved Brady Udall's wild, hilarious story collection, Letting Loose the Hounds, and now he's back and even better. Now he's let loose a miracle of a novel and created a miracle of a character in Edgar Mint. I'll never forget the story of his life, and I'm grateful to Brady Udall for writing it." Tom Franklin, author of Poachers
Review
"The whole blessed/bloody roil of the human condition course through The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. If Dickens had been born in Arizona, he might have written a book like this." Tony Earley, author of Jim the Boy
Review
"A new generation of writers is emerging from the West...Brady Udall is one of the very best of them." William Kittredge, author of The Nature of Generosity
Review
"Brady Udall has got what it takes." Clyde Edgerton, author of Walking Across Egypt
Synopsis
Half Apache and mostly orphaned, Edgar's trials begin on an Arizona reservation at the age of seven, when the mailman's jeep accidentally runs over his head. Shunted from the hospital to a school for delinquents to a Mormon foster family, comedy, pain, and trouble accompany Edgar through a string of larger-than-life experiences. Through it all, readers will root for this irresistible innocent who never truly loses heart, and whose quest for the mailman leads him to an unexpected home.
About the Author
Brady Udall is the author of Letting Loose the Hounds, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint, and The Lonely Polygamist. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Esquire, Playboy, and elsewhere. He lives in Boise, Idaho.