The Town Crazy
A Novel
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Descripción editorial
Compelling, bittersweet novel with memorable characters set in the 1960s in rural Pennsylvania, written by the legendary singer/songwriter/performer/author and founding member of the singing group The Roches
The Town Crazy, set in the sleepy town of Hanzloo, Pennsylvania, a suburban Catholic community in 1961, is a novel of passion, absurdity, innocence, and sorrow.
A single father moves into town with his young son, which arouses suspicion from the husbands and the interest of the wives, but at the same time one of the wives seems to be losing her mind, and no one knows what to do.
A contemporary, often humorous take on a bygone era, The Town Crazy also delves into the terror and cruelty of childhood, the dangerous loneliness of failing marriages, sexual repression and desire, and the intersection of art and religion, all culminating in a tragedy for which everyone in the town bears some responsibility.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Singer-songwriter Roche (Wayward Saints) probes the secrets of a small American town in this immersive character-driven tale. In 1961, the usually serene Hanzloo, Pa., and its Catholic residents are unsettled after Lil O'Brien, a frustrated poet and the mother of seven-year-old Alice, develops what her husband, Jim, describes as a "disease of the soul." The townspeople consider Lil crazy she speaks in jumbled sentences, can't keep herself or the house clean, and doesn't look after Alice. No one knows Lil is suffering an emotional collapse over a decision she'd kept to herself. Then, Luke Spoon, a handsome artist, moves to town with his young son, Felix. When Felix and his classmate Alice are discovered after hours in the darkened cafeteria, huddled under a table, town do-gooder Clarisse McCarthy jumps to the conclusion that Felix exposed himself to the girl an accusation that leads to a tragedy. Roche's characters are memorable, if not unique. Clarisse's two-faced gossiping and resentment of those who "hadn't fallen under her spell" have been done many times before, and so has Lil's bored housewife character ("Don't get married," she tells Alice). Still, Roche's deep understanding of them will keep readers engaged all the way to the end.
