THE ATTEMPT

by John Hopkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1967

The Attempt, a first one, is scarcely a novel; its autobiographical antecedence seems obvious and it consists of the intermittent experiences of an indeterminate young man, Caffery, in Peru; in the city of Lima where he works as little as necessary, goes to the cafe to drink pisco, or hibernates in his room listening to records. Or as he makes quite terrifying trips into the interior, up into the mountains or the jungle infested with monkeys, snakes, work crabs, bats, scorpions. He decides to work a money crop on a farm where vultures roost in the trees and a hired hand savages the cattle; he searches for huacos in a deadend canyon in the eroded desert; he pitches down the rapids of a river on a raft; he works on the construction of a dam. Caffery remains as solitary and indifferent as the landscape he describes with considerable visual power so that he manages to establish an insistent mood and montage without ever relating to it.

Pub Date: March 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION