Something Rising (Light and Swift)
-
- 65,00 kr
-
- 65,00 kr
Utgivarens beskrivning
From the internationally bestselling author of ‘The Solace of Leaving Early’, a funny, heartwrenching and unforgettable novel following the fortunes of a feisty young female pool hustler.
Cassie Claiborne, at ten, was surely too young to be the head of her disparate family. But who else was going to do it? Growing up in Indiana with her distant, heartbroken mother, Laura, her fragile, eccentric sister Belle, and her beloved grandfather Poppy, Cassie got sick of waiting for her father to come home from his everlasting gambling and drinking binges and took matters into her own hands. Taught by her father to play pool, Cassie was a natural and was soon hustling experienced pool players – and winning.
We follow Cassie from a complex little girl to a rebellious and impetuous young woman as she tries to create a world for her mother and sister. Overwhelmed but compelled by her family’s love, Cassie feels herself drawn back to the past by the stories of her mother's youth, and she leaves her town for New Orleans, hoping that there she can find a truth to soothe her wounded soul and to allow herself the happiness she has been denied.
Funny, heartbreaking, full of the eccentricity of small-town life and the overwrought drama of the close-knit family, ‘Something Rising (Light and Swift)’ is the story of a very unique young woman who knows that 'the worst thing that can happen to you is that you will find what you seek'. It tells of grief and love and growing up and leaving home in a way that is desperately sad but ultimately uplifting.
Reviews
‘Stark yet compelling.’ Vogue
‘What intelligence is here, and what grace, and what unsentimental (and contagious!) love for our messy ways here on planet Earth. Haven Kimmel is true gospel wearing bluejeans; you read her and you are lifted up.’ Elizabeth Berg
‘Gorgeously written and brilliantly conceived. “Something Rising (Light and Swift)” is touching and funny and warm and spirited.’ Augusten Burroughs, author of ‘Running With Scissors’
‘You're going to love meeting Cassie Claiborne, the redoubtable girl at the heart of this wonderful coming of age story. She has it all – rebellion, grit, compassion, humor, and a perfect eye. Beautifully written, “Something Rising” is a wonder.’ Sue Monk Kidd, author of ‘The Secret Life of Bees’
About the author
Haven Kimmel is the author of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling memoir, A Girl Named Zippy, and the critically acclaimed, Orange Prize-longlisted novel The Solace of Leaving Early. She studied English and creative writing at Ball State University and North Carolina State University. She also attended seminary at the Earlham School of Religion. Something Rising (Light and Swift) is her second novel, and the second part of a planned trilogy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kimmel returns to the semirural Indiana of her bestselling memoir, A Girl Named Zippy, and her witty novel, The Solace of Leaving Early, to recount, in graceful episodes, the troubled coming-of-age of Cassie Claiborne, who balances "on the fulcrum of happiness and despair." Following a stage-setting prologue, the book opens with 10-year-old Cassie waiting, as usual, for her irresponsible, often absent father. Jimmy Claiborne is a selfish lout who cares more for pool than his family ("You know you're my favorite, Cassie, although God knows that ain't saying much"), but his love for the game soon becomes Cassie's when his friend Bud teaches her to play. As a teenager, she's a pool shark, paying the bills for her defeated, distant mother, Laura, and taking care of her overachieving, agoraphobic sister, Belle. Understandably, she'd like a better life. After Jimmy splits for good divorcing his wife and emancipating his daughters Laura waxes nostalgic about an old boyfriend in New Orleans whom she left for Cassie's father. Cassie fantasizes about how things might have been had her mother stayed with that man, "her shadow father." At 30, Cassie has become a strong-willed feminist (though she'd never call herself that) who goes to New Orleans to defeat her demons and her mother's old boyfriend in a game of nine-ball. Kimmel's characters are sympathetic and believable, and the author proves herself equally deft at conveying smalltown desolation and the physics of pool. With a tougher core than her previous books, and an ending that's redemptive without being clich d, Kimmel's latest is another winner.
