✍ Scribed by Philipp Meyer
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Set in a beautiful but economically devastated Pennsylvania steel town, American Rust is a novel of the lost American dream and the desperation—as well as the acts of friendship, loyalty, and love—that arise from its loss. From local bars to trainyards to prison, it is the story of two young men, bound to the town by family, responsibility, inertia, and the beauty around them, who dream of a future beyond the factories and abandoned homes.
Left alone to care for his aging father after his mother commits suicide and his sister escapes to Yale, Isaac English longs for a life beyond his hometown. But when he finally sets out to leave for good, accompanied by his temperamental best friend, former high school football star Billy Poe, they are caught up in a terrible act of violence that changes their lives forever.
Evoking John Steinbeck’s novels of restless lives during the Great Depression, American Rust takes us into the contemporary American heartland at a moment of profound unrest and uncertainty about the future. It is a dark but lucid vision, a moving novel about the bleak realities that battle our desire for transcendence and the power of love and friendship to redeem us.
"In Philipp Meyer a new American master is born. A tender chronicle of a civilisation's corrosion, yet always watchful for something in the human soul that remains untarnished, 'American Rust' is a beautiful, bleak and ultimately redemptive masterpiece. The best book to come out of America since 'The Road'." - CHRIS CLEAVE author of THE OTHER HAND/LITTLE BEE
"The American dream dies and is reborn yet again. Set in a beautiful but bleak post-industrial landscape with characters who are compellingly engaging, AMERICAN RUST is a startlingly mature and impressive debut." - Kate Atkinson
'A fine achievement... moving between the panoramic and the personal with engaging confidence' - Sunday Times
'American Rust is so timely that it makes painful as well as enjoyable reading. The novel is a paean to the end of empire . . . Mr Meyer's voice is assured, and the story crackles with narrative tension. He develops his characters with impressive psychological and sociological insight' - The Economist, April 25, 2009
'An elegiac portrait of a disintegrating society' - FT, April 25, 2009
'Do people still think in terms of the Great American Novel - a work of fiction that exactly captures the contemporary spirit of the union? If so, American Rust has GAN stamped all over it. In racing terms it's by Of Mice and Men, out of Huckleberry Finn, ridden by Cormac McCarthy, and trained by Salinger and Kerouac' - Sunday Telegraph
'Meyer wryly acknowledges the literary tradition in which tales like this are often told... and in doing so, avoids its pitfalls. Instead, he gives us a powerful insight in to the lives of America's dispossessed, without patronising the people he writes about: they are victims of their circumstances, but not lameless caricatures. He has fine-tuned the nuances of their voices, from the intensity of Isaac's rapid-fire thoughts, to the circular, defeated thought pattern of Poe's mother, Grace, and the plot is captivating without ever straying into the realm of folksy page-turner.' - Observer
"The American dream dies and is reborn yet again. Set in a beautiful but bleak post-industrial landscape with characters who are compellingly engaging, AMERICAN RUST is a startlingly mature and impressive debut."
'American Rust is so timely that it makes painful as well as enjoyable reading. The novel is a paean to the end of empire . . . Mr Meyer's voice is assured, and the story crackles with narrative tension. He develops his characters with impressive psychological and sociological insight'>
'A novel as splendidly crafted and original as any written in recent decades, American Rust is both darkly disturbing and darkly compelling. Philipp Meyer's first novel signals the arrival of a new voice in American letters' - Patricia Cornwell
'Philipp Meyer's American Rust is written with considerable dramatic intensity and pace. It manages an emotional accuracy, a deep and detailed conviction, in its depiction of character. It also captures a sense of a menacing society, a wider world in the throes of decay and self-destruction' - Colm Tóibín
'This tale of personal struggles and economic depression is captivating, and more than a little resonant with current economic vibrations' --Gay Times April issue
'Having been force-fed John Steinbeck… I'm always just a little wary of any novel that features a double-wide trailer and is set in the industrial wastelands of the country... This first novel surprises you with its sureness of tone, its narrative propulsion and the singular and perceptive way in which it steers clear of all the usual redneck cliches… More than anything, American Rust impresses because it reminds us that even the most archetypal of situations can be given an intriguing remake in the right hands. Meyer never wears his social conscience on his sleeve and he never tries to pander to the reader's metropolitan guilt. And, simultaneously, he does make you want to turn the page. This is a new writer who clearly knows what he is doing' Douglas Kennedy, The Times 11/4
'It's a tragedy of a post-industrial society in decline, old with the poise and energy of a writer firmly in the ascendant. I've had excited conversations about this…This year, Meyer's second novel The Son is set to establish him and win major prizes, I think. He's a force of nature, and quite different from most writers. I find him intriguing and terrifically intense, single-minded in his research and fiercely dedicated to writing. Meyer is someone who is going all the way, and now might be a good time to get in at the start of the journey' --Chris Cleave, Esquire October Issue
"The American dream dies and is reborn yet again. Set in a beautiful but bleak post-industrial landscape with characters who are compellingly engaging, AMERICAN RUST is a startlingly mature and impressive debut."
Library : General
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 9780385527514
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