
Richard Ford, The Lay of the Land
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Richard Ford, The Lay of the Land
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The Lay Of The Land Richard Ford Knopf
The Lay of the Land
Richard Ford
Knopf, November 2006, $26.95
ISBN: 0679454683
It is Thanksgiving 2000 in Haddam, New Jersey and fifty-five year old realtor Frank Bascombe has more issues than the presidential contest that might get resolved by the '04 election (the presidency that is), but definitely before his do. Frank mulls over the irony of life. His second wife the widow Sally Caldwell left him for her very much alive first husband. Frank's first wife Ann Dykstra is now a widow and looking to go back to him.
Franks has other bigger issues than a second chance with his first wife becoming his third spouse; bigger than the issues of his twenty something year old offspring Paul and Clarissa (from his first marriage), whose complexities are better off ignored by him. As he sells homes and beach cottages with his partner a Tibetan Buddhist expatriate Mike Mahoney, Frank learns he has prostate cancer. This brings him no sympathy from his family, as they make him as usual the stuffing for the long Turkey weekend.
Every decade or so, Richard Ford treats readers with the latest happenings in the life of Frank Bascombe (see THE SPORTSWRITER and INDEPENDENCE DAY). Frank has learned relationships, no matter how long they are, do not last, as life happens. This time he takes a beating over the extended holiday weekend, but as he always has, whether he was covering sports, selling real estate, or watching marriages dissolve, he placidly ignores the jabs. Instead he is more concerned about the end of the Clinton era, with the country either going to be gored or just bushed. Still he looks back, seeking answers whether he should have settled for comfort or taken the risk for pleasure, as life is short. As always with Frank, readers obtain a deep humorous yet serious character study.
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