Fading Hearts on the River by Brooks Haxton

Fading Hearts on the River by Brooks Haxton

Centered around multi-million dollar stakes and a series of nationally televised poker tournaments, Fading Hearts on the River offers a story of odds-the odds of a newborn surviving severe jaundice, the odds of Congress passing a law that renders one's online gambling income inaccessible, the odds of drawing the right card on the turn or the river. In this tale of fatherhood and worldy success, Haxton follows his son Isaac's unlikely career as a poker player, the nervous father often sitting on the sidelines with his fingers crossed or staring at a casino monitor while Isaac wins more in one hand of play than Haxton has earned from all his books of poetry combined.



In this deftly crafted story Haxton explores the propensity for abstraction, logic, and memory all good poets and poker players share, all the while taking readers on a rollicking tour of complex, intertwined topics, ranging from game theory and financial strategies, to medical mysteries and lost love, to chess, Magic cards, and Texas Hold 'em. Guided by the through-line of a father's love and admiration for his talented son, Fading Hearts delivers a unique perspective on professional gambling and one family's experience playing the odds.

BROOKS HAXTON has published eight books of poetry, a nonfiction account of his son's career in high-stakes poker, and translations from Greek, French, and German. His poems have appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and elsewhere, and his nonfiction has been featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine. He wrote the script for a film on the life and work of Tennessee Williams, broadcast in the American Masters series. A recipient of grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and others, Haxton has taught for many years in the graduate creative writing programs of Syracuse University and Warren Wilson College.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781619023253
ISBN 10	1619023253
Title	Fading Hearts on the River
Author	Brooks Haxton
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Counterpoint
Year published	2014-05-13
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.