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- for some of you it could be the third time
“The Lay of the Land” by Richard Ford, is a complex web of emotions wrapped around an American Thanksgiving weekend on the New Jersey shoreline. The story spans about four days, but packed with observations, insights, humour, tragedy, suspense, and plain old common sense. Yes, there’s prostate cancer too. Frank Bascombe is our hero, selling real estate, with his partner who hails from Tibet. Screen saver on Mike/Tibet’s computer is the Dali Lama. Franks’ second wife left him for her dead husband (recently returned to the land of the living), daughter Clarissa is either a lesbian (or not) and son Paul writes cheesy one liners for Hallmark in Kansas City.
Richard Ford writes with an exterior dialogue complemented by an interior one (always in brackets). Ford gets it on every level. He’s the Bruce Springsteen of authors. He loves women, but happy to hang out with the boys at a bar . Woman want to be with him because he actually listens, men are happy to swap sport’s replays and recent scores. Decent human being just trying to sell houses and juggle the bouncing balls of emotions that are thrown his way.
I would kill to have dinner with Richard Ford. He’d be laid back and I know that crystal clear observations would just roll off this tongue. Of course, The Boss could join us later, that would be a rockin’ evening with two fine, fine, men. Two, fine, fine story tellers.
My [Rating: 5/5]
