The main characters are a nature writer living with his wife and her son in a gated community in Topanga Canyon and an illegal immigrant living with his pregnant wife at the bottom of the canyon itself. There are also coyotes. At times, the story gets pretty dark, but there are lightly comic sections as well, like an excerpt of the nature writer's overwrought prose. I think T.C. Boyle has a real talent for getting inside the heads of his characters, and his writing never feels didactic or overly partisan. Also, it was a refreshing change of pace to read a contemporary novel that wasn't written in and/or about Brooklyn.
(The pregnant wife is named America, which, come on, really? But the coyotes made up for it.)
I read Road to Wellville and Drop City two summers ago and wanted to wait a little bit before my next Boyle book. But I think enough time has elapsed. What are people's favorite T.C. Boyle books?
ReplyDeleteIt's okay, Doogs. I, too, was unable to finish Absurdistan.
ReplyDeleteI made it through Absurdistan. A little cutesy, but I respected the effort. Tortilla Curtain is great. Doogs, Tortilla Curtain tour of Canoga Park? ZK, how was Drop City? I feel like TC Boyle is always writing about stuff I am interested in, but not book-length interested in.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed Drop City. I also read the short story collection "Tooth and Claw" at some point and I remember liking that a lot.
ReplyDelete"If the River Was Whiskey" is a great collection. "After the Plague" also has some really good stories.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't make it through "The Women," Boyle's book about Frank Lloyd Wright, but I'll probably give it another try sometime.