
Lord of Misrule
Jaimy Gordon
(Author)21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world
Description
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
"Lord of Misrule" is a darkly realistic novel about a young woman living through a year of horse racing at a half-mile track in West Virginia, while everyone's best laid schemes keep going brutally wrong. With her first novel since her acclaimed "Bogeywoman" (1999), Jaimy Gordon bears comparison to other great writers of the American demimonde, such as Nathanael West, Damon Runyon, and Eudora Welty.-- "book cover"
Product Details
Publisher | McPherson |
Publish Date | November 15, 2010 |
Pages | 294 |
Language | English |
Type | |
EAN/UPC | 9780929701837 |
Dimensions | 8.8 X 5.8 X 1.0 inches | 1.1 pounds |
BISAC Categories: Popular Fiction, Literary Fiction
Reviews
A long shot for the winner's circle, "Lord of Misrule" won this year's [2010] National Book Award in fiction. Although the book, the sixth by author Jaimy Gordon, was a decade in the making, it is a fast tour through the underbelly of the sport of kings - horse-racing. The rundown racetrack central to the story is a separate universe with its own codes and castes and Gordon, who teaches at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, vividly tells the story of the trainers, jockeys, grooms, railbirds and girlfriends in this land governed by money and luck. Gordon has created a cast of original characters, including the track's horses, which are each full of personality and lore. Gordon describes the full spectrum of hope and despair on race day: "All are reasonably clean for this race, scarred and gleaming dark bays of various shades and descriptions - the commonest run of racehorse, dirt cheap, bone sore and all more beautiful than chests of viols of inlaid rosewood and pear." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
Become an affiliate