The sun collective : a novel
(Book)

When he's out-and-about in Minneapolis, Harry, a retired structural engineer married to Alma, a former music librarian and school principal, always hopes to spot his son Tim, who is living rough and out-of-touch. Harry gets close the day he notices a young, curiously mismatched couple. Christina, overly reliant on a risky designer drug, Blue Telephone, came to Minneapolis because of handsome actor Tim, becoming entangled, instead, with self-described revolutionary Ludlow, a member of the Sun Collective, which, despite its cheery name and positive community initiatives, is actually a shadowy, increasingly sinister assemblage of anarchists. Fiction virtuoso Baxter's artistry and merciless insights are in full, intoxicating flower in this sinuous, dark, and dramatic tale of the assaults of age, a hard-tested marriage, alienation, entrenched social inequality, hijacked activism, altered states, and convictions turned violent. As abrupt mental shifts strike like lightning, pitching Baxter's intricately portrayed characters dangerously off course, the country convulses under the authoritarian rule of an unhinged president. Baxter has brilliantly choreographed a wholly unnerving plunge into alarming aberrations private and public, festering political catastrophe, and woefully warped love.

Baxter's first novel in over a decade (after The Soul Thief) juggles satirical social critique and family drama, resulting in a messy yet engrossing tale of activism and aging. Retired Minneapolis engineer Harry Brettigan spends his days searching for his adult son, Tim, who fell out of touch months earlier, and sweetly bickering with his wife, Alma. After Alma faints one day, she starts talking with their pets and is drawn to the Sun Collective, a community group that offers resources to homeless people. There, she befriends a younger couple, Ludlow and Christina, and Harry balks when Ludlow details his homicidal vision for "effective microviolence" against suburbanites to achieve the Sun Collective's full potential. As Harry reckons with his relationships to Alma and Tim, he also travels down the rabbit hole of the Sun Collective to parse its true intentions; along the way, Tim reappears as a saved Collective member; the Sandmen, an extremist group that allegedly murders vagrants, emerge; and there's a series of mysterious deaths. Throughout, Baxter smartly lampoons America's political state and adds enough odd details to offset the occasionally murky plot threads. Readers willing to wade through the diversions will find a thoughtful study of anger, grief, and hope. (Nov.)

Alma and Harry Brettigan are gutted by the disappearance of their son Tim, an aspiring actor who has inexplicably slipped into the anonymity of life on the streets of Minneapolis. Unable to talk through their pain, each separately searches for Tim, and each crosses paths with an enigmatic young couple, Ludlow and Christine, who volunteer at the Sun Collective, an ostensibly idealistic organization committed to ending poverty, hunger, and homelessness--at least according to the manifesto they surreptitiously plant at that ultimate symbol of capitalism, the Utopia Mall. Sometimes with tongue in cheek but more frequently with deadly seriousness, Baxter plumbs the depths of Alma and Harry's 40-year marriage while tackling global issues such as the warming environment, rampant consumerism, and the fine line between activism and fanaticism. As the story unfolds, homeless people disappear, Ludlow grows more deranged, animals offer opinions to their humans, and a mounting sense of dread permeates the narrative. VERDICT Fans may be surprised at the dark tenor of his latest novel, but Baxter--poet, essayist, and National Book Award finalist for The Feast of Love--masterfully captures the zeitgeist of our country as we navigate multiple crises, some he could never have predicted. This is truly a compelling book for our times.--Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL

In his sixth novel, Baxter looks into the timely question of how we might help ourselves and others in need. As the book opens, Harold Brettigan, a retired bridge designer, boards a light-rail train to the Utopia Mall in Minneapolis, where he regularly exercises with a group of walkers. He is "shadowed" onto the train by a young couple, who sit across from him but keep to themselves, and he meets a man in a trilby who recommends a healing ritual involving a hand mirror. Harold's wife, Alma, begins talking to their cat and dog after she has a small stroke. Their son, Timothy, is missing, maybe living on the city's streets. The young couple on the train are Ludlow, who belongs to a local activist group called the Sun Collective, and Christina, who often takes a hallucinogenic called Blue Telephone. Some time later, Alma also meets the man in the trilby, who recommends a wish-fulfilling ritual involving two of her eyelashes. The Brettigans and the young couple are drawn together by accident and then by possible links to Timothy. It's an uneasy relationship, which Baxter signals by using the word "shadowed" during that first encounter on the train. The prose throughout is graceful, the writing perceptive, resonant, and deeply sympathetic. With his small cast, Baxter explores gurus and charlatans and other responses to hunger, homelessness, destitution, and simpler woes. Skepticism vies with hope, fanaticism with fantasy. A Trump-like President Thorkelson and his Cabinet embrace the ideas of an Ayn Rand--like writer for whom "charity was a sin...because it encouraged losers." A group of rich young fellows called the Sandmen are rumored to be killing homeless people. The Sun Collective provides clothes, food, and shelter, but it may be fueling terrorism. There are no easy answers, but there's promise, even respite in the quasi-magical, the nearly miraculous. An exceptional work. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

When he's out-and-about in Minneapolis, Harry, a retired structural engineer married to Alma, a former music librarian and school principal, always hopes to spot his son Tim, who is living rough and out-of-touch. Harry gets close the day he notices a young, curiously mismatched couple. Christina, overly reliant on a risky designer drug, Blue Telephone, came to Minneapolis because of handsome actor Tim, becoming entangled, instead, with self-described revolutionary Ludlow, a member of the Sun Collective, which, despite its cheery name and positive community initiatives, is actually a shadowy, increasingly sinister assemblage of anarchists. Fiction virtuoso Baxter's artistry and merciless insights are in full, intoxicating flower in this sinuous, dark, and dramatic tale of the assaults of age, a hard-tested marriage, alienation, entrenched social inequality, hijacked activism, altered states, and convictions turned violent. As abrupt mental shifts strike like lightning, pitching Baxter's intricately portrayed characters dangerously off course, the country convulses under the authoritarian rule of an unhinged president. Baxter has brilliantly choreographed a wholly unnerving plunge into alarming aberrations private and public, festering political catastrophe, and woefully warped love. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

The mother of falling-star actor Tim Brettigan knows that he has disappeared intentionally but still seeks him, finally discovering a community run by an ideal-ridden leader. Newbie drug addict Christina is lured to the same community by a man with visions of revolution. Through these characters, National Book Award finalist Baxter (The Feast of Love) examines American excess and anxiety in a Minneapolis setting.

Alma and Harry Brettigan are gutted by the disappearance of their son Tim, an aspiring actor who has inexplicably slipped into the anonymity of life on the streets of Minneapolis. Unable to talk through their pain, each separately searches for Tim, and each crosses paths with an enigmatic young couple, Ludlow and Christine, who volunteer at the Sun Collective, an ostensibly idealistic organization committed to ending poverty, hunger, and homelessness—at least according to the manifesto they surreptitiously plant at that ultimate symbol of capitalism, the Utopia Mall. Sometimes with tongue in cheek but more frequently with deadly seriousness, Baxter plumbs the depths of Alma and Harry's 40-year marriage while tackling global issues such as the warming environment, rampant consumerism, and the fine line between activism and fanaticism. As the story unfolds, homeless people disappear, Ludlow grows more deranged, animals offer opinions to their humans, and a mounting sense of dread permeates the narrative. VERDICT Fans may be surprised at the dark tenor of his latest novel, but Baxter—poet, essayist, and National Book Award finalist for The Feast of Love—masterfully captures the zeitgeist of our country as we navigate multiple crises, some he could never have predicted. This is truly a compelling book for our times.—Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL

Baxter's first novel in over a decade (after The Soul Thief) juggles satirical social critique and family drama, resulting in a messy yet engrossing tale of activism and aging. Retired Minneapolis engineer Harry Brettigan spends his days searching for his adult son, Tim, who fell out of touch months earlier, and sweetly bickering with his wife, Alma. After Alma faints one day, she starts talking with their pets and is drawn to the Sun Collective, a community group that offers resources to homeless people. There, she befriends a younger couple, Ludlow and Christina, and Harry balks when Ludlow details his homicidal vision for "effective microviolence" against suburbanites to achieve the Sun Collective's full potential. As Harry reckons with his relationships to Alma and Tim, he also travels down the rabbit hole of the Sun Collective to parse its true intentions; along the way, Tim reappears as a saved Collective member; the Sandmen, an extremist group that allegedly murders vagrants, emerge; and there's a series of mysterious deaths. Throughout, Baxter smartly lampoons America's political state and adds enough odd details to offset the occasionally murky plot threads. Readers willing to wade through the diversions will find a thoughtful study of anger, grief, and hope. (Nov.)