RACE ROCK

by Peter Matthlessen ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 31, 1954

A first novel sets a bleak and bitter tone and returns to Shipman's Landing, a New England coastal village, where Sam and George and Cady Shipman and Eve had grown up together- and where now, during a long, hard weekend some old memories and nagging misgivings are finally put to rest. Cady, who had killed a cat deliberately as a youngster, is unchanged and cold and contemptuous, chafing under the stigma of his illegitimacy; Sam, who had been afraid of him, is still a coward; Eve, who had always loved George- but had married Sam for a time, is again the victim of her feelings for George; and George leads a purposeless existence and is now escaping the unwelcome complications of a postwar, post-marital affair with Eve. But a night back at the Landing during which Sam and George and Cady get drunk together ends in a brutal brawl; Sam's weakness is the indirect cause of another's death;but George is finally able to prove himself- and as the alcoholic haze lifts- finds that his love for Eve will give a new direction to his life.... A fusion of memory and reality which if sombre- is effective- and lends a more decisive imprint to lives which are anxious and overcast.

Pub Date: March 31, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1954

Categories: FICTION