Preston Falls (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780679756439)

"Beautifully written.... Gates has a] pitch-perfect ear for contemporary speech...and... a] keen, journalistic eye."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

In this comic, fiercely compassionate novel, David Gates, whose first novel Jernigan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, sends his protagonist on a visceral journey to the dark side of suburban masculinity, explores the claims youth makes on middle age, and the tenacious --at times perverse--power of love to assert itself.

When Doug Willis has a mid-life crisis, he doesn't join a gym or have an affair. Instead he gets himself arrested while camping with his wife and kids, takes a two month leave of absence from his PR job, and retreats to his farmhouse in rural Preston Falls--where he plugs in his guitar and tries to shut out his life.

While his wife, Jean, struggles to pay the bills and raise their sullen, skeptical kids, Willis's plans for hiatus crumble into Dewars-and-cocaine fueled disarray. A shattered window, an unguarded gun, and a shady small town attorney force a crisis--and Willis can't go home again. With its biting humor and harsh realism, Preston Falls confirms David Gates as a talent in the tradition of Russell Banks and Richard Ford: a master of dark truths and private longings.

Author: David Gates
ISBN-10: 0679756434
ISBN-13: 9780679756439
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Language: English
Published: 04/06/1999
Pages: 354
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.36h x 5.84w x 0.82d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 04/18/1999 pg. 32
Ingram Advance 07/01/1999 pg. 38
New York Times 06/06/1999 pg. 52