The Lake Shore Limited
A dazzlingly original novel, from the bestselling author of Monogamy
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- 8,49 €
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- 8,49 €
Publisher Description
'Deeply affecting ... exquisite' Washington Post
'Subtle and truthful' Sadie Jones
'Acutely observant ... heartbreaking' Daily Telegraph
Ever since her boyfriend Gus was killed in 9/11, Billy has been pretending.
She finds it easier to stay silent and go through the motions of grief than tell the truth: that she was planning to leave Gus, and that his death left her feeling a mixture of ambivalence and anguish that she is still struggling to resolve.
Drawing from her experience, Billy writes a play: 'The Lake Shore Limited'. The opening night brings together three people whose lives intersect and interweave with Billy's: Leslie, Gus's older sister, haunted by his death and constantly aware of what could have been; Rafe, the actor who brings the joy and sadness of his own marriage into his role; and Sam, a recently divorced man who is irresistibly drawn to Billy's distinctive, enigmatic beauty. Together these four voices create a mesmerizing novel of entanglements, connections and inconsolable losses.
What readers are saying about The Lake Shore Limited:
'Sue Miller at her best ... Beautiful, moving, enriching'
'A multi-layered story that exposes the dark and light side of the human condition'
'So real, intimate and honest'
'Dazzling'
'Miraculous'
'Sue Miller's writing is outstanding and beautiful. Definitely five stars'
'One of the best books I've read in a long time'
'I loved it'
'Original and transformative'
'I adore this book, and can't recommend it strongly enough'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Four people are bound together by the 9/11 death of a man in Miller's insightful latest. Leslie, older sister and stand-in mother to the late Gus, clings to the notion that Gus had found true love with his girlfriend, Billy, before he was killed. But the truth is more complicated: Billy, a playwright, has written a new play that explores the agonizing hours when a family gathers, not knowing the fate of their mother and wife who was aboard a train that has been bombed. The ambivalent reaction of the woman's husband has shades of Billy and Gus's relationship, particularly the limbo she's been in since he died. Rafe, the actor playing the ambivalent husband, processes his own grief and guilt about his terminally ill wife as he steps more and more into his character. Finally, there's Sam, an old friend Leslie now hopes to set up with Billy. While the plot doesn't have the suspense and zip of The Senator's Wife, Miller's take on post-9/11 America is fascinating and perfectly balanced with her writerly meditations on the destructiveness of trauma and loss, and the creation and experience of art.
