THE HAIR OF HAROLD ROUX

by Thomas Williams ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 20, 1974

Always distinguished, Thomas Williams' new novel is in a minor mood if compared with all the sex and fright of his widely praised Whipple's Castle. Again the setting is New England around Leah, New Hampshire, and again Williams' words are sharpened for picking at slivers of glass in the paranoid heart of small-town life. The tale is told in a brilliant variety of literary forms, as a gripping children's story, as a preposterous student novel, as a novel written by the main character -- always moving back and forth between two eras at once: post World War II college-student life and present-day faculty life. One is constantly aware of Williams himself, a college professor, writing a novel about Aaron Benham, a college professor, writing a novel about Allard Benson, a college student who grows up to be Aaron Benham. The story is about victims, most of whom induce their own difficulties: Harold Roux at the mercy of his toupees and meekness -- in fact everyone's a victim. The bloody moonlit climax takes place in a big toy village named Lilliputown. Fascinating all the way, with a special feel for motorcycles and the Zen-sweet Now as the hero bikes through midnight mountains.

Pub Date: May 20, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION