Townie by Andre Dubus Iii
Andre Dubus I, author of the National Book Award-nominated House of Sand and Fog and The Garden of Last Days, reflects on his violent past and a lifestyle that threatened to destroy him--until he was saved by writing. After their parents divorced in the 1970s, Andre Dubus I and his three siblings grew up with their exhausted working mother in a depressed Massachusetts mill town saturated with drugs and crime. To protect himself and those he loved from street violence, Andre learned to use his fists so well that he was even scared of himself. He was on a fast track to getting killed--or killing someone else--or to beatings-for-pay as a boxer. Nearby, his father, an eminent author, taught on a college campus and took the kids out on Sundays. The clash of worlds couldn't have been more stark--or more difficult for a son to communicate to a father. Only by becoming a writer himself could Andre begin to bridge the abyss and save himself. His memoir is a riveting, visceral, profound meditation on physical violence and the failures and triumphs of love.
"Townie is a better, harder book than anything [Dubus III] has yet written; it pays off on every bet that’s been placed on him" -- Dwight Garner - New York Times
"Harrowing and strange and beautiful…This book marks an important moment in the growing body of Dubus’s work." -- Bret Lott - Boston Globe
"As a memoir, and as a family story, Townie is beautiful and almost perfectly executed. As a meditation on violence, from an author who once embraced it, it is shocking, necessary and indispensable." -- Michael Schaub - NPR
"This haunting memoir is as explosive as a Muhammad Ali prize fight, as vivid as a Basquiat canvas…This wrenching story can only strengthen the reputation of Andre Dubus III. From father to son, the torch has passed." -- Dan Cryer - San Francisco Chronicle
"A stormy and courageous memoir." -- Kate Bittman - The New Yorker
"[Dubus III] is such a solid writer, he redeems the genre. He shows that truth can be as honest as fiction." -- Mark Lindquist - Seattle Times
"Dubus has an eye for searing detail that is unequaled so far this century…and he employs that here to maximum effect." -- Joy Tipping - Dallas Morning News
"The best first-person account of an author’s life I have ever read. The violence that is described is the kind that is with us every day, whether we recognize it or not. The characters are wonderful and compassionately drawn. I sincerely believe Andre Dubus may be the best writer in America. His talent is enormous. No one who reads this book will ever forget it." -- James Lee Burke
"Whatever it cost Dubus to bare his soul and write this brutally honest and life-affirming memoir, it is an extraordinary gift to his readers." -- Wally Lamb
"I’ve never read a better or more serious meditation on violence, its sources, consequences, and, especially, its terrifying pleasures, than Townie. It’s a brutal and, yes, thrilling memoir that sheds real light on the creative process of two of our best writers, Andre Dubus III and his famous, much revered father. You’ll never read the work of either man in quite the same way afterward. You may not view the world in quite the same way either." -- Richard Russo
"Harrowing and strange and beautiful…This book marks an important moment in the growing body of Dubus’s work." -- Bret Lott - Boston Globe
"As a memoir, and as a family story, Townie is beautiful and almost perfectly executed. As a meditation on violence, from an author who once embraced it, it is shocking, necessary and indispensable." -- Michael Schaub - NPR
"This haunting memoir is as explosive as a Muhammad Ali prize fight, as vivid as a Basquiat canvas…This wrenching story can only strengthen the reputation of Andre Dubus III. From father to son, the torch has passed." -- Dan Cryer - San Francisco Chronicle
"A stormy and courageous memoir." -- Kate Bittman - The New Yorker
"[Dubus III] is such a solid writer, he redeems the genre. He shows that truth can be as honest as fiction." -- Mark Lindquist - Seattle Times
"Dubus has an eye for searing detail that is unequaled so far this century…and he employs that here to maximum effect." -- Joy Tipping - Dallas Morning News
"The best first-person account of an author’s life I have ever read. The violence that is described is the kind that is with us every day, whether we recognize it or not. The characters are wonderful and compassionately drawn. I sincerely believe Andre Dubus may be the best writer in America. His talent is enormous. No one who reads this book will ever forget it." -- James Lee Burke
"Whatever it cost Dubus to bare his soul and write this brutally honest and life-affirming memoir, it is an extraordinary gift to his readers." -- Wally Lamb
"I’ve never read a better or more serious meditation on violence, its sources, consequences, and, especially, its terrifying pleasures, than Townie. It’s a brutal and, yes, thrilling memoir that sheds real light on the creative process of two of our best writers, Andre Dubus III and his famous, much revered father. You’ll never read the work of either man in quite the same way afterward. You may not view the world in quite the same way either." -- Richard Russo
Andre Dubus III is the author of Such Kindness and eight other books, including the bestsellers Townie and House of Sand and Fog, a National Book Award Finalist in Fiction and an Oprah’s Book Club selection. He lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780393340679 |
| ISBN 10 | 0393340678 |
| Title | Townie |
| Author | Andre Dubus Iii |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | WW Norton & Co |
| Year published | 2012-04-17 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |