- Hardcover: 484 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books (P) (Aug 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345393562
- ISBN-13: 978-0345393562
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 17 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The New York Times Book Review praised the characters in Jon Hassler's last novel, Dear James, as"so exquisitely rendered that even a first-time visitor to Staggerford will come to love them as old friends." Now, in Rookery Blues, Hassler once again brings to life an oddball group of Midwesterners, as they brace themselves and each other for the turmoil of the late 1960s on a small college campus.
Rookery, Minnesota, is about as far north as you can go and still be in the United States, and Rookery State College is an academic backwater if ever there was one. The campus is populated by students seeking draft deferments during the height of the Vietnam War and misfit teachers who can't get a job anywhere else. Even so, some of the faculty at Rookery State long for a meeting of the minds, the companionship of soulmates.
And then, one frigid afternoon, the Icejam Quintet is born in the improbable basement apartment of Neil Novotny, an unkempt English instructor and obsessed novelist. With Leland Edwards on piano, Neil on clarinet, Victor Dash on drums, and Connor on bass, the group comes together with the help of its muse, the lovely Peggy Benoit, who plays saxophone and sings. The most gifted and spirited of the bunch, Peggy instills the harmony that allows the Icejammers to produce the kind of jazz they've all dreamed of playing, bringing them satisfaction they never thought they'd experience.
But even isolated Rookery State will be touched by the great discontent sweeping the country. News of a salary freeze electrifies the rabble-rousing Victor, and the first labor union in history comes noisily to campus. As a teachers' strike takes shape, threatening both the draft-dodging students and the complacent administration, the five musicians must struggle with their loyalties--to the school, the town, their families, and each other....
As he does in all his novels, Jon Hassler infuses the story of this unlikely collection of eccentrics with wry wit, deep feeling, and ultimately, his faith in human beings to endure despite their own sadly comic foibles. Like his beloved Staggerford novels, Rookery Blues is about the sheer need for community that everyone harbors--even in the unlikeliest places.
Rookery, Minnesota, is about as far north as you can go and still be in the United States, and Rookery State College is an academic backwater if ever there was one. The campus is populated by students seeking draft deferments during the height of the Vietnam War and misfit teachers who can't get a job anywhere else. Even so, some of the faculty at Rookery State long for a meeting of the minds, the companionship of soulmates.
And then, one frigid afternoon, the Icejam Quintet is born in the improbable basement apartment of Neil Novotny, an unkempt English instructor and obsessed novelist. With Leland Edwards on piano, Neil on clarinet, Victor Dash on drums, and Connor on bass, the group comes together with the help of its muse, the lovely Peggy Benoit, who plays saxophone and sings. The most gifted and spirited of the bunch, Peggy instills the harmony that allows the Icejammers to produce the kind of jazz they've all dreamed of playing, bringing them satisfaction they never thought they'd experience.
But even isolated Rookery State will be touched by the great discontent sweeping the country. News of a salary freeze electrifies the rabble-rousing Victor, and the first labor union in history comes noisily to campus. As a teachers' strike takes shape, threatening both the draft-dodging students and the complacent administration, the five musicians must struggle with their loyalties--to the school, the town, their families, and each other....
As he does in all his novels, Jon Hassler infuses the story of this unlikely collection of eccentrics with wry wit, deep feeling, and ultimately, his faith in human beings to endure despite their own sadly comic foibles. Like his beloved Staggerford novels, Rookery Blues is about the sheer need for community that everyone harbors--even in the unlikeliest places.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I again enjoyed the charactors in Hassler's books. As stated in an earlier review the plots are not riveting, but Hassler's books are not about plots, they are about the charactors. I have enjoyed every book I have read by Hassler and look forward to reading the few I have not yet read. I also grew up in northern Minnesota and can identify with the area, customs, etc. of that part of the world.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When most books feature disposable or interchangeable characters, it is a wonderful treat to read a book with people you can care about. To read fiction is to enter someone else's world and Hassler unerringly recreates such a vision in his wintery academic community. Without violence or bloodshed, he is able to create a gripping story of ordinary people in the grip of life's passion and circumstances. A great book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I would guess that "Rookery Blues" is one of the best pieces of writing of Jon Hassler's. Hassler is one of few authors who are able to write an interesting story about people's lifes without the need of an over-exaggerated plot.
His characters are marvellously developed such that the reader takes great interest in what happens to them (they are every-day people). Well-written. Funny.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
This Book is Silly
The characters in this book and their interactions are really inane. I kept reading thinking that the book was bound to get better, but if anything the plot situations got even... Read more
Published on 28 Jan 1998
Well-crafted novel.
John Hassler has created a collection of interesting characters and writes about them with kindness and affection. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 1998
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