- Paperback: 292 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (9 July 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0571203744
- ISBN-13: 978-0571203741
- Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 13.2 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,326,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
William Gay's second novel, Provinces of Night recreates the oppressive, evocative atmosphere of the American Deep South he first explored in his debut novel, The Long Home. With a backdrop of rural Tennessee in the 1950s, our teenage protagonist, Fleming Bloodworth finds himself alone in the family home after his father, Boyd, abandons him to hunt down and kill his wife's lover. At the same time, Fleming's grandfather, EF, decides to return to his family after 20 years of self-imposed exile. He returns to discover that his remaining two sons, Warren and Brady are in turn, an alcoholic womaniser and a Bible-quoting fantasist who enjoys putting curses on his enemies. Amid this climate of bitterness and recrimination, Fleming spends a long, hot summer becoming acquainted with the grandfather he has never known and learning about his life as an itinerant banjo player. Along the way, his wayward cousin, Albright introduces Fleming to the beautiful Raven Lee, the daughter of a prostitute from a nearby town. Despite her own perilous circumstances, Raven represents Fleming's only hope of escaping from the hopeless web of misguided blood ties and age-old animosity woven by his own family.
The title of this beautifully crafted novel is borrowed from Cormac McCarthy, and Gay's larger-than-life Southern characters and precise rendering of a sultry Tennessee summer owes much to the inspiration of McCarthy, as well as other legendary Southern writers such as William Faulkner and Carson McCullers. This is a self-consciously big novel in the Southern tradition that could so easily have buckled under the weight of its own ambition, but instead Gay pulls it off with ease, presenting us with a stream of unforgettable characters. While the central themes of love, loyalty and forgiveness are explored seriously and sensitively, the finely wrought prose is also sprinkled with moments of genuine humour as Gay proves that he's not afraid to gently mock his gang of Southern eccentrics. This is a wonderful novel that is a worthy successor to the tradition it so obviously admires.--Jane Morris
Product Description
The Bloodworths come from Ackerman's Field, Tennessee. Theirs is a rough and violent past and Boyd Bloodworth - father of the hero, Fleming - is intent on continuing the tradition. The year is 1952 and E.F. Bloodworth, Boyd's father, has returned after 20 years of roaming.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
lyrical writing,
By
This review is from: Provinces of Night (Paperback)
I've lived in Tennessee for almost 30 years, in the urban settingof Knoxville. I'm a caver, and the hunting for new caves takes me to small towns and deeply rural areas in rugged terrain, where one can be 40 miles from the nearest supermarket. You learn that there are places to be avoided, where strangers are not welcome. (You can also find such places in London, Glasgow, etc., as well as in parts of the English countryside.) The law can be far away and not impartial in some locations. Provinces of Night deals with small-town Tennessee rather than the deeply rural and remote parts. The central figure, Fleming Bloodworth, is not violence- prone, but violence is often not far away. There is humor and tenderness, as well as violence and death, but that's often how life can be. Tennessee is not a slaughterhouse, but it's not unusual to see "Three Dead in Cocke County Bar Fight" on the evening news. William Gay started writing at age 52. He seems to have been There's a great power and lyrical quality in Gay's writing. When
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lyrical, dark, realistic romance,
By
This review is from: Provinces of Night (Hardcover)
Slower than some of William Gay's other work (I would recommend Twilight, which blew me away, as well as The Long Home), Provinces of Night is concerned with the fortunes of the Bloodworth family. We are in red-neck country, 1952, and hillbilly eccentricities abound. E F Bloodworth is the patriarch and in common with most of the male members of the clan seems possessed with a ferocious wanderlust. This time though, he's wandering homewards, but as he arrives his sons set off to roam. Boyd is looking for his wife, but only so that he can kill the travelling salesman that took her away from him. Alcoholic Warren finds money-making easy, but he's absent for much of the book on various schemes and vague-seeming projects. Brady, the youngest is the only one who stays put, and he's an oddball who thinks he can hex people into doing his bidding as he communes with his pack of wild dogs and looks after his old mother who is fast succumbing to dementia. Warren's son, good-looking Neal is a heartless womaniser and the only steady hand in the pack is Fleming, son of Boyd.
Gay's landscapes are faultlessly painted on the retina and his humour is neatly tuned to the hard-wrought lives depicted. There are some brilliant set-pieces, including a winter ice storm and a visit to an out-of-state drive-in movie in a clapped out car. Characterisation does sometimes seem to be chosen from a stereotypical wild west dressing-up box, but Gay's writing style is intense, atmospheric and evocative, at times poetic. The book sags a little in the mid-section and the best story-line belongs to Fleming Bloodworth and his attenuated courting of the enigmatic Raven Lee. Mostly satisfying and engrossing, there are a few hitches and schematic diversions in this journey to an unashamedly romantic denouement.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I've found another Cormac McCarthy!!!!!,
By bookworm26 (uk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Provinces of Night (Paperback)
I discovered Cormac McCarthy, with 'The Road,' and was so 'blown away' that I bought all of his books...and remained in awe of his superb writing. Impatiently waiting for new ones by him, I chanced on the reviews and through them discovered William Gay (as a similar style.)I read this book of short stories a couple of weeks ago & was not disappointed. I am now halfway through his other, 'Twilight,'which is just as un-put-downable. I look forward to 'The Long Home,' which is patiently waiting on my bookshelf. A genius of a writer!
If anyone out there can recommend more in 'this style of writing,' I would appreciate. I already have a Flannery O'Connor, waiting to savour also! Best, Marian
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
