Praise for In the Country of the Blind :
Edward Hoagland’s quiet, emotionally complex novel . . . not to mention his creator’s searching and abundant writings over a 60-year career, [is] well worth the ride.”The New York Times Book Review
"Does anyone write better than Edward Hoagland? I doubt it, and this is one of his best novelstaut, tender, and true." Phillip Lopate
"His twenty-fifth and best book to date...More than any writer since Thoreau, Edward Hoagland has spent a lifetime celebrating the world we live in for all its tattered glory, and our own." Burlington Free Press
Touching but unsentimental, the narrative evokes the whole of a man with the gentle, thoughtful, and precise words that epitomize Hoagland’s writing. Fine reading and essential for fans of the author’s oeuvre.” Library Journal
"A treasure on multiple levels, the novel leads us into its protagonist's sensory world with such ease, intimacy, and humor the 83-year-old Hoaglandwho is going blind himselfseems to be in our thoughts as much as we are in his. Taking leave of Press is no easy task.The incomparable Hoagland's 25th book is not only one of the most rewarding novels of the year, it's also one of the sexiest." Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Exquisite . . . a masterful work” Booklist
Praise for Devil's Tub :
"Edward Hoagland’s collected stories are dazzling. The characters are sometimes in the spotlight (not always; sometimes the light is very dim, indeed): fancy cowboys and competitive motorcycle racers that light a harsh one, except for the modulations, the perfect pitch, the empathy and real-world-awareness the writer puts on display. I’m not the most likely audience for stories about fighters and men on the run from bears, but you know what? The writer cornered me and dragged me into this glorious, furious, believable, yet incredible mess. I’m on the sidelines, totally involved, eating my heart out with admiration. Every story has its own intrinsic logic, every conclusion its understated and elegant power punch. Read this book, please." Ann Beattie
Praise for Children Are Diamonds:
The ferocious lucidity of Hoagland’s language and the depth of his characters as they navigate political complexity, hellish violence, endless fear, persistent desire, and desperate calculations of survival make for a shattering tale of epic suffering, bitter irony, and miraculous flashes of beauty.”Booklist
A gritty cinematic story wrapped in brilliant African detail, mesmerizing, from the unforgettable opening scene, on to the end. Quite simply, a masterpiece.”Garrison Keillor
Edward Hoagland has long been both a resolute explorer and a preternaturally versatile writer. He’s written more nonfiction than fiction, but what he brings to this terrifying novelI mean, in addition to his humane vision and exquisite craftis everything he has learned (as Graham Greene learned) from the world. The range and depth of Hoagland’s travel books, and of his many remarkable essays, are on display in this novel set in Africa, where killing and sexual brutality are juxtaposed with humanitarian care. Hoagland’s aid workers are damaged souls, but they haven’t quit. In a world of unbearable inhumanity, what comes across in this intrepid novel is the power of doing the right thingeven, or especially, in a moral outback.”John Irving
Children Are Diamonds is the latest addition to a remarkable collection of books about the war in southern Sudan that evokes the time and place with haunting imagery. Hoagland aptly captures the lives of Western do-gooders and opportunists lured by the adrenaline rush of Africa, evoking the closeness, and the randomness, of death in a war zone.”New York Times
Praise for Edward Hoagland:
Hoagland is our wild world’s literary virtuoso.” Annie Proulx
One of the very best writers of his generation.” Saul Bellow
Praise for In the Country of the Blind :
Edward Hoagland’s quiet, emotionally complex novel . . . not to mention his creator’s searching and abundant writings over a 60-year career, [is] well worth the ride.”The New York Times Book Review
"Does anyone write better than Edward Hoagland? I doubt it, and this is one of his best novelstaut, tender, and true." Phillip Lopate
"His twenty-fifth and best book to date...More than any writer since Thoreau, Edward Hoagland has spent a lifetime celebrating the world we live in for all its tattered glory, and our own." Burlington Free Press
Touching but unsentimental, the narrative evokes the whole of a man with the gentle, thoughtful, and precise words that epitomize Hoagland’s writing. Fine reading and essential for fans of the author’s oeuvre.” Library Journal
"A treasure on multiple levels, the novel leads us into its protagonist's sensory world with such ease, intimacy, and humor the 83-year-old Hoaglandwho is going blind himselfseems to be in our thoughts as much as we are in his. Taking leave of Press is no easy task.The incomparable Hoagland's 25th book is not only one of the most rewarding novels of the year, it's also one of the sexiest." Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Exquisite . . . a masterful work” Booklist
Praise for Devil's Tub :
"Edward Hoagland’s collected stories are dazzling. The characters are sometimes in the spotlight (not always; sometimes the light is very dim, indeed): fancy cowboys and competitive motorcycle racers that light a harsh one, except for the modulations, the perfect pitch, the empathy and real-world-awareness the writer puts on display. I’m not the most likely audience for stories about fighters and men on the run from bears, but you know what? The writer cornered me and dragged me into this glorious, furious, believable, yet incredible mess. I’m on the sidelines, totally involved, eating my heart out with admiration. Every story has its own intrinsic logic, every conclusion its understated and elegant power punch. Read this book, please." Ann Beattie
Praise for Children Are Diamonds:
The ferocious lucidity of Hoagland’s language and the depth of his characters as they navigate political complexity, hellish violence, endless fear, persistent desire, and desperate calculations of survival make for a shattering tale of epic suffering, bitter irony, and miraculous flashes of beauty.”Booklist
A gritty cinematic story wrapped in brilliant African detail, mesmerizing, from the unforgettable opening scene, on to the end. Quite simply, a masterpiece.”Garrison Keillor
Edward Hoagland has long been both a resolute explorer and a preternaturally versatile writer. He’s written more nonfiction than fiction, but what he brings to this terrifying novelI mean, in addition to his humane vision and exquisite craftis everything he has learned (as Graham Greene learned) from the world. The range and depth of Hoagland’s travel books, and of his many remarkable essays, are on display in this novel set in Africa, where killing and sexual brutality are juxtaposed with humanitarian care. Hoagland’s aid workers are damaged souls, but they haven’t quit. In a world of unbearable inhumanity, what comes across in this intrepid novel is the power of doing the right thingeven, or especially, in a moral outback.”John Irving
Children Are Diamonds is the latest addition to a remarkable collection of books about the war in southern Sudan that evokes the time and place with haunting imagery. Hoagland aptly captures the lives of Western do-gooders and opportunists lured by the adrenaline rush of Africa, evoking the closeness, and the randomness, of death in a war zone.”New York Times
Praise for Edward Hoagland:
Hoagland is our wild world’s literary virtuoso.” Annie Proulx
One of the very best writers of his generation.” Saul Bellow
12/01/2016
Sixty years after the publication of his first novel, Hoagland, best known and celebrated for his nature and travel essays (e.g., Notes from the Century Before), presents this brief, final piece of fiction. Like Hoagland himself, the narrator, whose name is Press, is going blind. Press lives in northeast Vermont near a hippie commune, failing farmers, and drug traffickers, and he gladly accepts much-needed help and any kindness offered to him. Once a successful stockbroker, now unemployed and divorced, he is concerned about his small monthly income; his two young children, whom he misses terribly; and where he will spend his coming days. Should he succumb to the safety and security of an assisted living facility, join the commune, or seek another alternative? Press's ever-increasing sense of isolation and loneliness as his precious little sight decreases makes him truly grateful for his experiences with nature and friends past and present. VERDICT Touching but unsentimental, the narrative evokes the whole of a man with the gentle, thoughtful, and precise words that epitomize Hoagland's writing. Fine reading and essential for fans of the author's oeuvre.—Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH
★ 2016-08-22
Having lost his job, his wife, and nearly all of his eyesight, a former Merrill Lynch stockbroker braves a strange but compelling new existence in northern Vermont among hippies, drug dealers, evangelicals, and struggling farmers.We are in the Vietnam era. Much of the time, the aged Press lives a life of "banal loneliness" in a small farm cabin, listening to Bach and Mozart on a Montreal radio station—sounds inseparable from "the creak of his swing on the porch, barn swallows harvesting bugs overhead, a teacher bird, and a wood thrush's liquid fluting." As much out of curiosity or boredom as compassion, the locals take an interest in him—especially Carol, an artist who lives on a nearby commune. She becomes his driver, social guide, caretaker, tease, and unexpected sex partner. In her company, he finds himself pushing past perceived limitations and brushing off his ex-wife's recommendation that he move into a nursing home. Never mind the dealers who are secretly storing marijuana in his shed. Long on surprises, his new life proves as richly revealing as it is unsettling. A treasure on multiple levels, the novel leads us into its protagonist's sensory world with such ease, intimacy, and humor the 83-year-old Hoagland—who is going blind himself—seems to be in our thoughts as much as we are in his. Taking leave of Press is no easy task.The incomparable Hoagland's 25th book is not only one of the most rewarding novels of the year, it's also one of the sexiest.