Theory of War
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
'A modern work of genius' Spectator
Winner of the Costa/Whitbread Book of the Year Award 1993
Forced into slavery as a child, Jonathan Carrick escapes to a new life but within him lies the need for revenge against George Stokes, the son of his former master.
Mallory Carrick, confined to a wheelchair, seeks to find out the truth about her grandfather's history.
Haunting, elegant and passionate, Theory of War is a novel about how the past lives on through following generations. It follows one woman's journey to discover what her grandfather might have experienced and how his suffering still haunts his descendants.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mallory Carrick, the narrator of this provocative, ambitious novel by the author of The Imposter , is the granddaughter of a white slave. Jonathan Carrick was ``bound out'' to a farmer as a boy in 1865; though he ran away at age 16, his enslavement instilled a fury that, Mallory states, ``pollutes my life, even though the man was dead before I was born.'' Desperate to understand her fierce, emotionally crippled ancestor, she flies from her home in England to Washington state, where her great-uncle recounts the story of Jonathan's life: his horrific boyhood, his years as a railroad brakeman, his conflict as a fundamentalist minister who doubted the Word he preached, his war against the imperious son of his erstwhile owner. Confined to a wheelchair by a spinal tumor, Mallory seeks ``the truth'' about her grandfather but must rely on such fallible sources as her alcoholic great-uncle's failing memory and Jonathan's coded journals. Drawing on the actual experiences of her own grandfather, Brady brings a riveting tale shockingly to life with her flair for colorful characterization and vivid language. However, her tendency to indulge in philosophical musings overwhelms a story that would have been far more powerful and unsettling if it had been more simply told. BOMC alternate. ( Apr. )
