{"product_id":"three-for-the-road-bruce-lawder-9781950475506","title":"Three for the Road","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe three novellas gathered together here under the title \u003cem\u003eThree for the Road\u003c\/em\u003e are all \"on the road\" stories, \u003cem\u003eCalifornia\u003c\/em\u003e most explicitly, though my young protagonist there is not driving but driven when he arrives in California at the beginning of the book and at the end leaves it. But \u003cem\u003eSchlemm\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Marriage Ceremony\u003c\/em\u003e are no less concerned with moving from one place to another, mentally as well as physically, and finally about disappearing, or at least disappearing from sight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe characters in these tales are all survivors, though each in a different way, and in settings that vary from a topless dance club called The American Dream to a publishing house, from an office cubicle to a New York cab, and the question their survival asks is quite simply the value of survival. Are there things we should not do? Since all three novellas take place against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, that question becomes an existential one: Is one's own survival alone an adequate reason to take another person's life, or is not death, no matter whose, a contradiction of survival itself as a value?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe word \"protest\" has had something of a bad press at times, at least for some people, and not only in America: it has acquired a negative meaning, as if we were and are always protesting \u003cem\u003eagainst\u003c\/em\u003e something. But etymologically the word is altogether positive and as a word means to stand \u003cem\u003efor\u003c\/em\u003e (from the Latin, \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003epro\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e-testare\u003c\/em\u003e); if we take the word and our own action seriously, the question becomes: What do we as human beings stand for? How far are we willing to go, to lie, for example, to kill, to compromise or not to compromise, in our search for something positive in our lives, something meaningful? Meaningful work, for example. Or a meaningful relationship. What do we refuse to do?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe road \"(not) taken\" in these works is already present in the promise of the title; it echoes not only Kerouac and Frost in suggesting the difficulty of the journey, but it also recalls Whitman, as all American roads do, open or closed as that road might now be. It is a road that leads us all across America, from New York to California, from East to West, and then back; it finally becomes the imaginary though real trajectory that has brought me personally to Europe, where I now live.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Bruce Lawder\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1950475506\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781950475506\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Homestead Lighthouse Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 350\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.03lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.78d","brand":"Bruce Lawder","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":49084209823999,"sku":"9781950475506","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/three-for-the-road-bruce-lawder-9781950475506","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}