Arcadia
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
'Stunningly sensual and visceral' NEW YORK TIMES
'Smart, beautiful . . . paints a lyrical picture' STYLIST
'Groff is a sensuous writer' GUARDIAN
In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land. Abe and Hannah's only child, Bit, is born into the commune soon after its creation. He grows up there, becoming deeply attached to its way of life and everyone within it, in particular the beautiful but troubled Helle. While the commune rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. But when it's time to find a way to live in the world beyond Arcadia, will he be able to let go of the past to forge a new start?
'An exquisite tale of idealism and disintegration . . . Utterly absorbing' MARIE CLAIRE
'Intricately wrought . . . A powerful pean to the human desire to make the right sort of place live' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
'Arcadia is stunningly sensual and visceral in describing behaviour straight out of a time capsule . . . A shimmering evocation of the commune's heyday' NEW YORK TIMES
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Groff's dark, lyrical examination of life on a commune follows Bit, aka Little Bit, aka Ridley Sorrel Stone, born in the late '60s in a spot that will become Arcadia, a utopian community his parents help to form. Despite their idealistic goals, the family's attempts at sustainability bring hunger, cold, illness, and injury. Bit's vibrant mother retreats into herself each winter; caring for the community literally breaks his father's back. The small, sensitive child whose purposeful lack of speech is sometimes mistaken for slowness finds comfort in Grimms' fairy tales and is lost in the outside world once Arcadia's increasingly entitled spiritual leader falls from grace and the community crumbles. Split between utopia and its aftermath, the book's second half tracks the ways in which Bit, now an adult (he's 50 when this all ends, in 2018), has been shaped by Arcadia; a career in photography was the perfect choice for a man who "watches life from a good distance." Bit's painful experiences as a husband, father, and son grow more harrowing as humanity becomes increasingly imperiled. The effective juxtaposition of past and future and Groff's (Delicate Edible Birds) beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read.
