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Title details for Presidio by Randy Kennedy - Available

Presidio

A Novel

by Randy Kennedy
George Newbern
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
"Fluent, mordant, authentic, propulsive...wonderfully lit from within" (Lee Child, The New York Times Book Review), this critically acclaimed, stunningly mature literary debut is the darkly comic story of a car thief on the run in the gritty and arid landscape of the 1970s Texas panhandle.
In this "stellar debut," (Publishers Weekly) car thief Troy Falconer returns home after years of wandering to reunite with his younger brother, Harlan. The two set out in search of Harlan's wife, Bettie, who's left him cold and run away with the little money he had. When stealing a station wagon for their journey, Troy and Harlan find they've accidentally kidnapped a Mennonite girl, Martha Zacharias, sleeping in the back of the car. But Martha turns out to be a stubborn survivor who refuses to be sent home, so together, these unlikely road companions haphazardly attempt to escape across the Mexican border, pursued by the police and Martha's vengeful father.

But this is only one layer of Troy's story. Through interjecting entries from his journal that span decades of an unraveling life, we learn that Troy has become so estranged from society that he's shunned the very idea of personal property. Instead of claiming possessions, he works motels, stealing the suitcases and cars of men roughly his size, living with their things until those things feel too much like his own, at which point he finds another motel and vanishes again into another man's identity.

Richly nuanced and complex, "like a nesting doll, [Presidio] continually uncovers stories within stories" (Ian Stansel, author of The Last Cowboys of San Geronimo). With a page-turning plot, prose as gritty and austere as the novel's Texas panhandle setting, and a determined yet doomed cast of characters ranging from con artists to religious outcasts, this "rich and rare book" (Annie Proulx, author of Barkskins) packs a kick like a shot of whiskey. Perfect for fans of Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, and Larry McMurtry, who said that Kennedy "captures the funny yet tragic relentlessness of survival in an unforgiving place. Let's hope he keeps his novelistic cool and brings us much, much more."

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 21, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781508261094
      • File size: 221931 KB
      • Duration: 07:42:21

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 4, 2018
      In this stellar debut, it’s 1972, and Troy Falconer, a professional car thief, returns home to New Cona, Tex. Troy comes at the request of his younger brother, Harlan, whose wife, Bettie, has left him and taken all their money. The two brothers steal a car and hit the road in search of Bettie, unaware of the sleeping passenger in the backseat, Martha Zacharias, an 11-year-old runaway from a Mennonite community. She’s looking to be reunited with her father, Aron, who is doing time in a Juárez prison. Not wanting to be arrested for kidnapping, Troy and Harlan plan to drop Martha off at the nearest bus station, but they haven’t counted on Martha calling Aron to tell him their location, or Aron catching up with them as they are dropping Martha off. Interspersed with this odyssey through the Texas Panhandle are entries from Troy’s diary that detail his gradual descent into a life of crime, which, unfortunately, take time away from the contemporary story. Like the young heroines of She Rides Shotgun, Martha is a memorably single-minded heroine who can stand up to adults engaged in unlawful pursuits. Kennedy soberly etches a Texas landscape of violence and despair as vividly as anything by Larry McMurtry.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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