This tour-de-force of American literature and a winner of the National Book Award is a profound, intimate, affecting novel from one of the most esteemed literary minds of the last century and a beloved chronicler of the West.
Uncovering this history floods Allston with memories, both grotesque and poignant, and finally vindicates him of his past and lays bare that Joe Allston has never been quite Spectator enough..
When an unexpected postcard from a long-lost friend arrives, Allston returns to the journals of a trip he has taken years before, a journey to his mother\'s birth-place where he once sought a link with his past.
He has passed through life as a spectator, before retreating to the woods of California in the 1970s with only his wife, Ruth, by his side.
His job, trafficking the talent of others, has not been his choice.
His parents and his only son are long dead, leaving him with neither ancestors nor descendants, tradition nor ties.
Joe Allston is a cantankerous, retired literary agent who is, in his own words, just killing time until time gets around to killing me.
This tour-de-force of American literature and a winner of the National Book Award is a profound, intimate, affecting novel from one of the most esteemed literary minds of the last century and a beloved chronicler of the West
