A country road, a tree : a novel
(Book)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Author
Published
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2016].
Status
Westover - Adult Fiction
F BAKER
1 available

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Westover - Adult FictionF BAKERAvailable

Description

"From the best-selling author of Longbourn, a stunning new novel that follows an unnamed writer--Samuel Beckett--whose life and extraordinary literary gift are permanently shaped in the forge of war. When war breaks out in Europe in 1939, a young, unknown writer journeys from his home in neutral Ireland to conflict-ridden Paris and is drawn into the maelstrom. With him we experience the hardships yet stubborn vibrancy at the heart of Europe during the Nazis' rise to power; his friendships with James Joyce and other luminaries; his quietly passionate devotion to the Frenchwoman who will become his lifelong companion; his secret work for the French Resistance and narrow escapes from the Gestapo; his flight from occupied Paris to the countryside; and the rubble of his life after liberation. And through it all we are witness to workings of a uniquely brilliant mind struggling to create a language that will express his experience of this shattered world. Here is a remarkable story of survival and determination, and a portrait of the extremes of human experience alchemized into timeless art"--

More Details

Format
Book
Edition
First American edition.
Physical Desc
289 pages ; 25 cm
Language
English
ISBN
9781101947180, 1101947187

Notes

General Note
"This is a Borzoi book."
Description
"From the best-selling author of Longbourn, a stunning new novel that follows an unnamed writer--Samuel Beckett--whose life and extraordinary literary gift are permanently shaped in the forge of war. When war breaks out in Europe in 1939, a young, unknown writer journeys from his home in neutral Ireland to conflict-ridden Paris and is drawn into the maelstrom. With him we experience the hardships yet stubborn vibrancy at the heart of Europe during the Nazis' rise to power; his friendships with James Joyce and other luminaries; his quietly passionate devotion to the Frenchwoman who will become his lifelong companion; his secret work for the French Resistance and narrow escapes from the Gestapo; his flight from occupied Paris to the countryside; and the rubble of his life after liberation. And through it all we are witness to workings of a uniquely brilliant mind struggling to create a language that will express his experience of this shattered world. Here is a remarkable story of survival and determination, and a portrait of the extremes of human experience alchemized into timeless art"-- Provided by publisher.

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Published Reviews

Booklist Review

In her latest novel, Baker, the author of Longbourn (2013), reimagines Irish writer Samuel Beckett's involvement with the French Resistance during WWII. Over his mother's objections, Beckett left the relative safety of his family home in Ireland in 1939 to return to Paris in the days just before France declared war on Germany. When the Nazis reach Paris, Beckett and his love, Suzanne, flee alongside Beckett's mentor, James Joyce, and his wife, Nora. While the Joyces seek a safe haven in Switzerland, Beckett and Suzanne ultimately return to Paris, where a friend of Beckett's draws them into the resistance effort. Though the tasks are small keeping track of German troops in Paris and relaying that information to contacts the danger is great, and the couple is soon forced out of the city once again, setting out on a harrowing journey to the countryside, where Beckett agrees to even more perilous missions. Taking its title from Beckett's most famous play, Waiting for Godot, Baker's historical drama deftly explores the psyche of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
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Publisher's Weekly Review

Baker's intimate portrait of Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) focuses on the critical years 1939-1946, during which time Beckett began his relationship with Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, whom he later married; participated in the French Resistance, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre; and developed the modern perspective and minimalist style that earned him the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature. A brief prologue shows Beckett as a boy in Ireland climbing a tree while his mother tries in vain to keep him within the bounds of safety. Part One, entitled "The End," flashes forward to England's entry into World War II. Drinking, depressed, and home in Ireland after living in France, Beckett longs to return to Paris, although he's haunted by his mother's question: what possible use can he be there? Once back in France, without papers or income, Beckett reconnects with mentor/friend James Joyce, the great Irish author whose genius overshadows Beckett's own frustrated attempts at writing. When German forces move into Paris, and one of Beckett's dearest friends, a communist, is arrested, Beckett joins the Resistance, serving in Paris and the French countryside, first as a translator, then in combat. Examples of wartime decency and brutality, instances of courage and betrayal, periods of time when nothing happens, and shortages that limit life to essentials all stir Beckett's sense of absurdity in modern life. Baker details how wartime experiences provide the key to Beckett's transformation from Joyce disciple to distinctive literary voice. In this worthy successor to Longbourn, she skillfully captures Beckett's world, the rhythms of his bare-bones prose, and the edginess of his point of view. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
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Kirkus Book Review

The experiences of a struggling Irish writer in France during World War IIjoining the Resistance, fleeing the Gestapo, risking everything again after escaping to the free zonewill help shape his groundbreaking literary future, suggests this novel based on the life of Samuel Beckett. Having turned Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice on its head in Longbourn (2013), Baker moves on to more recent but bleaker literary pastures with a biofiction tracing the life of Beckett, the brooding "spindly giant," from 1939 to 1946. Before the war begins, the young author has escaped his difficult relationship with his mother by settling in Paris, where he finds work as a secretary to James Joyce, a partner named Suzanne, and a creative community. However, once war is declared and Paris falls, life becomes increasingly harsh and is further darkened by Joyce's death. Beckett joins the Resistance, his role to find patterns in scraps of information. But the cell is betrayed, and Beckett and Suzanne are forced to flee, enduring a terrifying journey to Roussillon, which includes an interminable wait by a tree in a nameless place, a woman who can't stop talking, and the constant agony of ill-fitting boots. These passing but pointed references to Beckett's great works to comeWaiting for Godot, Not I, etc.and philosophical speculations ("And so one finds one goes on living") are intrusive. Baker's impressionistic character portrait works hard at evoking a questing, solitary intelligence during a period of physical and mental anguish and wholesale destruction, but Beckett is a world-class literary enigma, and any such attempt was perhaps always going to fall short of full-blooded conviction. Baker's virtuoso imagining of war's terrors and privations is not quite matched by her depiction of a unique, consistently elusive artistic identity. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
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Booklist Reviews

In her latest novel, Baker, the author of Longbourn (2013), reimagines Irish writer Samuel Beckett's involvement with the French Resistance during WWII. Over his mother's objections, Beckett left the relative safety of his family home in Ireland in 1939 to return to Paris in the days just before France declared war on Germany. When the Nazis reach Paris, Beckett and his love, Suzanne, flee alongside Beckett's mentor, James Joyce, and his wife, Nora. While the Joyces seek a safe haven in Switzerland, Beckett and Suzanne ultimately return to Paris, where a friend of Beckett's draws them into the resistance effort. Though the tasks are small—keeping track of German troops in Paris and relaying that information to contacts—the danger is great, and the couple is soon forced out of the city once again, setting out on a harrowing journey to the countryside, where Beckett agrees to even more perilous missions. Taking its title from Beckett's most famous play, Waiting for Godot, Baker's historical drama deftly explores the psyche of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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Library Journal Reviews

Having taken us downstairs with the Bennet family servants in Longbourn, a LibraryReads pick, Baker reimagines the life of Samuel Beckett as he leaves Ireland for Paris in 1939, eventually working for the French Resistance. Audaciously, she aims to show Beckett struggling to find the language to record what he's seen.

[Page 73]. (c) Copyright 2016 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Copyright 2016 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Publishers Weekly Reviews

Baker's intimate portrait of Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) focuses on the critical years 1939–1946, during which time Beckett began his relationship with Suzanne Dechevaux-Dumesnil, whom he later married; participated in the French Resistance, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre; and developed the modern perspective and minimalist style that earned him the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature. A brief prologue shows Beckett as a boy in Ireland climbing a tree while his mother tries in vain to keep him within the bounds of safety. Part One, entitled "The End," flashes forward to England's entry into World War II. Drinking, depressed, and home in Ireland after living in France, Beckett longs to return to Paris, although he's haunted by his mother's question: what possible use can he be there? Once back in France, without papers or income, Beckett reconnects with mentor/friend James Joyce, the great Irish author whose genius overshadows Beckett's own frustrated attempts at writing. When German forces move into Paris, and one of Beckett's dearest friends, a communist, is arrested, Beckett joins the Resistance, serving in Paris and the French countryside, first as a translator, then in combat. Examples of wartime decency and brutality, instances of courage and betrayal, periods of time when nothing happens, and shortages that limit life to essentials all stir Beckett's sense of absurdity in modern life. Baker details how wartime experiences provide the key to Beckett's transformation from Joyce disciple to distinctive literary voice. In this worthy successor to Longbourn, she skillfully captures Beckett's world, the rhythms of his bare-bones prose, and the edginess of his point of view. (May)

[Page ]. Copyright 2016 PWxyz LLC

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Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Baker, J. (2016). A country road, a tree: a novel (First American edition.). Alfred A. Knopf.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Baker, Jo. 2016. A Country Road, a Tree: A Novel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Baker, Jo. A Country Road, a Tree: A Novel New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.

Harvard Citation (style guide)

Baker, J. (2016). A country road, a tree: a novel. First American edn. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Baker, Jo. A Country Road, a Tree: A Novel First American edition., Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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