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Preston Falls
"Beautifully written... Gates [has a] pitch-perfect ear for contemporary speech... and... [a] keen, journalistic eye."--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
In this comic, fiercely compassionate novel, David Gates, whose first novel Jernigan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, sends his protagonist on a visceral journey to the dark side of suburban masculinity, explores the claims youth makes on middle age, and the tenacious --at times perverse--power of love to assert itself.
When Doug Willis has a mid-life crisis, he doesn't join a gym or have an affair. Instead he gets himself arrested while camping with his wife and kids, takes a two month leave of absence from his PR job, and retreats to his farmhouse in rural Preston Falls--where he plugs in his guitar and tries to shut out his life.
While his wife, Jean, struggles to pay the bills and raise their sullen, skeptical kids, Willis's plans for hiatus crumble into Dewars-and-cocaine fueled disarray. A shattered window, an unguarded gun, and a shady small town attorney force a crisis--and Willis can't go home again. With its biting humor and harsh realism, Preston Falls confirms David Gates as a talent in the tradition of Russell Banks and Richard Ford: a master of dark truths and private longings.
In this comic, fiercely compassionate novel, David Gates, whose first novel Jernigan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, sends his protagonist on a visceral journey to the dark side of suburban masculinity, explores the claims youth makes on middle age, and the tenacious --at times perverse--power of love to assert itself.
When Doug Willis has a mid-life crisis, he doesn't join a gym or have an affair. Instead he gets himself arrested while camping with his wife and kids, takes a two month leave of absence from his PR job, and retreats to his farmhouse in rural Preston Falls--where he plugs in his guitar and tries to shut out his life.
While his wife, Jean, struggles to pay the bills and raise their sullen, skeptical kids, Willis's plans for hiatus crumble into Dewars-and-cocaine fueled disarray. A shattered window, an unguarded gun, and a shady small town attorney force a crisis--and Willis can't go home again. With its biting humor and harsh realism, Preston Falls confirms David Gates as a talent in the tradition of Russell Banks and Richard Ford: a master of dark truths and private longings.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 27, 1998
13 people are currently reading
591 people want to read
About the author
David Gates
73 books79 followersDavid Gates (born January 8, 1947) is an American journalist and novelist. His first novel, Jernigan (1991), about a dysfunctional one-parent family, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1992 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. This was followed by a second novel, Preston Falls (1998), and two short story collections, The Wonders of the Invisible World (1999) and A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me (2015). He has published short stories in The New Yorker, Tin House, Newsweek, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Rolling Stone, H.O.W, The Oxford American, The Journal of Country Music, Esquire magazine, Ploughshares, GQ, Grand Street, TriQuarterly, and The Paris Review. Gates is also a Guggenheim Fellow.
Until 2008, he was a senior writer and editor in the Arts section at Newsweek magazine, specializing in articles on books and music.
He teaches in the graduate writing program at The University of Montana as well as at the Bennington Writing Seminars. Here he is a member of the Dog House Band, performing on the guitar, pedal steel, and vocals.
Until 2008, he was a senior writer and editor in the Arts section at Newsweek magazine, specializing in articles on books and music.
He teaches in the graduate writing program at The University of Montana as well as at the Bennington Writing Seminars. Here he is a member of the Dog House Band, performing on the guitar, pedal steel, and vocals.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
May 26, 2022
So, I picked this up about 3 weeks ago on a trip to Colorado at a bookstore called Poor Richard's in Colorado Springs. After spending the majority of the day in Manitou Springs at the Garden of the Gods and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, my wife and I were pretty tired. It was unseasonably hot and sunny for an early May day in that region and couldn't do much but find a bookstore and hang out for our afternoon.
After reading his debut Jernigan back in 2018, I thought I had found a diamond in the rough with David Gates. His main character was like a more mature Henry Chinaski, if that could even be a thing and I found myself relating to the character more than I thought I should. Now with his second novel (and final one as of 2022) I see a lot of the same bleak cynicism as in the previous novel, but spread over a family of four.
Preston Falls is their home away from home. Doug Willis (the husband and father) is an enigma. He's constantly reading Dickens, portrays himself as an intellectual, but finds every way in the book to be a bad husband and father and overall sorry example of a human being. Jean Karnes (the wife and mother), I feel is the main character in the novel, although for the first half of the book, she's outshined by the somewhat boring character of her husband. Her angst, depression and knowledge that she's just sticking through this marriage for the kids is subtle, yet outright flooding through the pages when Gates decides to focus on her. While Willis is traipsing around Preston Falls, doing whatever he wants, you feel the self-destruction that Jean is going through back home dealing with a pre-teen of a daughter and a 9 year old for a son; Willis is neglectful to everyone, even himself.
Overall, I see what Gates was trying to do. These two people were never truly meant to be together and should never have been. People try...or should I say the majority of the people that try to keep a marriage together find out that it's a one-sided affair.
Two main downfalls and why I'm giving it only a 3 are the dialogue and focus on Willis way too much. The dialogue was shotty and awkward with too much 80's and 90's slang that made me cringe. I can't imagine adults talking this way much less teenagers. Willis's internal monologue at times, seemed like it was Gates trying to take up room on the page, not leaving much substance and very easy to skim. I found myself skimming a couple pages here and there and realizing I didn't miss much at all.
I haven't read any of Gates's short stories and to be honest, I think I will stop with him here. He's not very well read now as it shows here on Goodreads. Most of his output came out in the 90's, so that's probably a good reflection of the ratings and reviews.
If you do venture in his world, Jernigan is where you should go.
After reading his debut Jernigan back in 2018, I thought I had found a diamond in the rough with David Gates. His main character was like a more mature Henry Chinaski, if that could even be a thing and I found myself relating to the character more than I thought I should. Now with his second novel (and final one as of 2022) I see a lot of the same bleak cynicism as in the previous novel, but spread over a family of four.
Preston Falls is their home away from home. Doug Willis (the husband and father) is an enigma. He's constantly reading Dickens, portrays himself as an intellectual, but finds every way in the book to be a bad husband and father and overall sorry example of a human being. Jean Karnes (the wife and mother), I feel is the main character in the novel, although for the first half of the book, she's outshined by the somewhat boring character of her husband. Her angst, depression and knowledge that she's just sticking through this marriage for the kids is subtle, yet outright flooding through the pages when Gates decides to focus on her. While Willis is traipsing around Preston Falls, doing whatever he wants, you feel the self-destruction that Jean is going through back home dealing with a pre-teen of a daughter and a 9 year old for a son; Willis is neglectful to everyone, even himself.
Overall, I see what Gates was trying to do. These two people were never truly meant to be together and should never have been. People try...or should I say the majority of the people that try to keep a marriage together find out that it's a one-sided affair.
Two main downfalls and why I'm giving it only a 3 are the dialogue and focus on Willis way too much. The dialogue was shotty and awkward with too much 80's and 90's slang that made me cringe. I can't imagine adults talking this way much less teenagers. Willis's internal monologue at times, seemed like it was Gates trying to take up room on the page, not leaving much substance and very easy to skim. I found myself skimming a couple pages here and there and realizing I didn't miss much at all.
I haven't read any of Gates's short stories and to be honest, I think I will stop with him here. He's not very well read now as it shows here on Goodreads. Most of his output came out in the 90's, so that's probably a good reflection of the ratings and reviews.
If you do venture in his world, Jernigan is where you should go.
March 18, 2011
Several years ago, I remember reading this novel late into the night and howling with laughter. Afterwards, I recommended it to my friends and family, who thought that it was a terrible book. I’m going to re-read this one. Maybe the passage of time will change my opinion…or maybe I just have a twisted sense of humor.
March 24, 2015
Deriva
Dopo essermi imbattuto (con scarsa soddisfazione) in alcuni romanzi che trattano di massimi sistemi socio-politico-economici con ricchezza di dettaglio e indubbia abilità nell’inventare e articolare distopie ben congegnate, ma scritti con un linguaggio banale, sciatto e superficiale, ecco che mi capita un libro che si pone all’esatto opposto della narrativa.
Una storia come tante, che trova l’unico elemento “alieno” nel contesto suburbano statunitense (ma si sa che gli americani ci hanno colonizzato anche l’inconscio per cui riaffiorano alla memoria film e libri in quantità come se Chesterton, NY fosse casa mia…) ma nella quale è difficile non riconoscere parti di sé stesso in personaggi che sembrano avere smarrito lo slancio vitale per ritrovare motivazioni a proseguire nel lavoro, nel matrimonio, nella vita.
Un libro tristissimo insomma, e non so come faccia il curatore dell’edizione italiana a parlare in quarta di copertina di “humour”, chè la malinconia, il risentimento e il disincanto prendono il sopravvento sulla vita di Doug, lo spingono a decisioni insensate, a reazioni violente e autolesioniste, a non muovere un dito per salvare il salvabile.
Preston Falls (dal nome della località del Vermont, dove è ambientata una parte del racconto) è soprattutto il frutto di uno stile narrativo particolarmente accurato, costruito sulle emozioni molto più che sugli eventi, con richiami a Richard Yates e al John Williams di Stoner, forse meno “perfetto” di questi illustri precedenti, perché le incombenze della quotidianità (la scuola dei bambini, gli impegni di lavoro, le presenze di zii e vicini di casa) spezzano di continuo il ritmo della lotta contro la disperazione strisciante.
Di David Gates in Italia è pubblicato solo un altro romanzo, Jernigan, e mi riprometto di verificare quanto prima se questo autore è davvero così ingiustificatamente sottovalutato oppure se sono io che ho preso un abbaglio…
Dopo essermi imbattuto (con scarsa soddisfazione) in alcuni romanzi che trattano di massimi sistemi socio-politico-economici con ricchezza di dettaglio e indubbia abilità nell’inventare e articolare distopie ben congegnate, ma scritti con un linguaggio banale, sciatto e superficiale, ecco che mi capita un libro che si pone all’esatto opposto della narrativa.
Una storia come tante, che trova l’unico elemento “alieno” nel contesto suburbano statunitense (ma si sa che gli americani ci hanno colonizzato anche l’inconscio per cui riaffiorano alla memoria film e libri in quantità come se Chesterton, NY fosse casa mia…) ma nella quale è difficile non riconoscere parti di sé stesso in personaggi che sembrano avere smarrito lo slancio vitale per ritrovare motivazioni a proseguire nel lavoro, nel matrimonio, nella vita.
Un libro tristissimo insomma, e non so come faccia il curatore dell’edizione italiana a parlare in quarta di copertina di “humour”, chè la malinconia, il risentimento e il disincanto prendono il sopravvento sulla vita di Doug, lo spingono a decisioni insensate, a reazioni violente e autolesioniste, a non muovere un dito per salvare il salvabile.
Preston Falls (dal nome della località del Vermont, dove è ambientata una parte del racconto) è soprattutto il frutto di uno stile narrativo particolarmente accurato, costruito sulle emozioni molto più che sugli eventi, con richiami a Richard Yates e al John Williams di Stoner, forse meno “perfetto” di questi illustri precedenti, perché le incombenze della quotidianità (la scuola dei bambini, gli impegni di lavoro, le presenze di zii e vicini di casa) spezzano di continuo il ritmo della lotta contro la disperazione strisciante.
Di David Gates in Italia è pubblicato solo un altro romanzo, Jernigan, e mi riprometto di verificare quanto prima se questo autore è davvero così ingiustificatamente sottovalutato oppure se sono io che ho preso un abbaglio…
July 3, 2016
This is a take on the "straight white suburban male trapped in a stale marriage with kids and having a life crisis" novel. And I know there are plenty of those, but this one stands apart on a few accounts, not the least of which is the more-than-equal treatment of the wife's perspective. The dialogue is exceptional (as noted by critics in their reviews). The straightforward prose reassuringly mimics actual thought in a way that humanizes both Doug Willis and Jean: despite their contemptibility, they are starkly recognizable and strangely sympathetic. This allows, or perhaps forces, readers to remember that we're all just this hurtfully messed-up and tired. As fastidious and bitchy as Jean seems, you get where she's coming from when she tries to keep it together, as a mother, a wife, a woman in the workforce. And as annoyingly ironic and sulky--and as cowardly--as Doug Willis seems when he runs away from his marriage, you sort of feel sorry for him as he screws himself into an adult adolescence that is freeing yet uneviable. But you never feel too sorry. And that's what I really liked about the book. Both Doug Willis and Jean are, for various reasons, convinced they're superior people (echoes of Revolutionary Road here), yet readers are on notice. Are we that much better?
October 23, 2011
It's weird that David Gates doesn't get mentioned in the same breath as the Jonathan Franzens of the world, because he can clearly play with the big boys of upper-suburban angst.
I'd never heard of Gates until a good pal suggested Preston Falls, and it really nags me that he flew under my radar so long. I love Franzen and Richard Russo, and Gates writes a dirtier, less forgivable (and by turn, more annoying) version of disintegrating, disenchanted family life. I wish my friend would have warned me about how goddamn bleak Preston Falls is, though. Yeesh. Even The Corrections and Freedom throw you at least a LITTLE uplift.
I'd never heard of Gates until a good pal suggested Preston Falls, and it really nags me that he flew under my radar so long. I love Franzen and Richard Russo, and Gates writes a dirtier, less forgivable (and by turn, more annoying) version of disintegrating, disenchanted family life. I wish my friend would have warned me about how goddamn bleak Preston Falls is, though. Yeesh. Even The Corrections and Freedom throw you at least a LITTLE uplift.
January 22, 2008
I picked this up because I liked the cover and ending up absolutely loving the book and the characters. The narrator is so delightfully a dude and it's so smart and oddly charming.
March 4, 2014
Resorted to skimming to get to the end. Characters never grabbed me, and the premise failed to engage this reader anyway.
February 26, 2015
This review is more for me than any one else, just so I remember the book later. I stopped reading a little more than half way through. I had a very strong disliked for both the writing and the characters in this book. The author overuses italics and profanity for emphasis which makes him seem lazy. Also, the lead character is drawn to be shallow, unfunny, and unintelligent, yet we're told he's supposed to be a decent guy going through a crisis. This would be a situation where it would have been better to show than to tell. I picked this book up after seeing Kate Christensen's Epicure's Lament compared to it. Christensen's book is far better though. Her lead character, also and anti-hero, is funny and human, while still being deeply flawed. You get the sense she truly understands and empathizes with him. In this book, the character's ugliness is not redeemed or demonstrated to be anything but childish and horrible. Why the author decided to share this person with us is never made clear. I felt polluted after reading it.
May 6, 2016
You could call this a middle-aged crisis book. The main character, Doug Willis does in fact take two months off work to go live in his weekend cabin in Preston Falls. He doesn't have much direction, just does whatever. What he likes...playing guitar and reading literary books. I mean, who wouldn't. He attempts, once, to fix up the cabin so it's more inviting for his family. But the marriage seems to be falling apart and Willis doesn't have any emotion for or against it. Just whatever. Of course his wife is very annoyed by that and well you can see where this goes.
It was an okay book, I'd say the the writing is better than the story. You want Willis to actually do something about figuring out what he wants. He just seems to do this, then that, either being led by people he barely knows then freaking out about it. Hard to recommend this to anyone, and three star rating is probably too much.
It was an okay book, I'd say the the writing is better than the story. You want Willis to actually do something about figuring out what he wants. He just seems to do this, then that, either being led by people he barely knows then freaking out about it. Hard to recommend this to anyone, and three star rating is probably too much.
August 26, 2016
Kind of similar to American beauty. A guy is fed up of his life and then rebels against American society. Funny and fast paced but not too memorable.
August 15, 2011
started out hating the characters and not understanding why i was continuing to read the book, then I started liking the book, although the characters still made me cringe....
October 7, 2011
I liked this book to a surprising degree.
February 14, 2013
Liked it but not nearly as much as Jernigan, Gates's first novel.
Read
September 30, 2015Did not finish.
Just couldn't get into this story.
Just couldn't get into this story.
September 2, 2023
Jernigan was a great book and David Gates' collection of short stories was very good. So when i found Preston Falls at the local thrift for $1 I thought why not.
I won't say i want my dollar back, there is value in this book but only as a curious piece of evidence of Y2K pre-9/11 America. As i read Preston Falls it occurred to me this is the opposite of the coming-of-age tale that comprises such much of the fiction genre, and there should be a specific designation for this type of story--- mid-life crisis of the angry white male.
Uncoming of age?
The central character, Willis, is unfulfilled, in an unhappy marriage with two children he feels increasingly estranged from, in a job which leaves him unsatisfied but secure. The title refers to a town where wealthy outsiders pick up second homes, weekend cabins, and "play at country living amongst the slightly dangerous and wild locals". Willis I found to be a truly unlikable character. Angry at everything and frustrated that there should be more to all this "American dream" stuff he lands on the page ready to implode. The promised unraveling occurs rather quickly though Willis the character lacks the articulation to create empathy or understanding. He swears a lot. He convinces us he knows about guitars, cars, building--- but he does none of those things for a living. He just wants us to know he's a dude and he serves as the ringmaster of an improbable and juvenile downward spiral circus.
Perhaps this genre could be called Dude Bro lit. Or Angry Inarticulate Male melodrama.
What might be interesting is an explanation of how the Willis' of America became so angry they have now become Qanon devotees. This---and a slow burning disgust with Willis as he ranted on---
were the sole salient thoughts i had in the first 200 pages.
Fortunately he then disappears from the book and I was left to persue the resolution through the efforts of his poor wife. She turns out to be little more than a sketch, an attempt to display someone who is good and right and true who should be loved more but just doesn't cut it anymore and somehow its partly or perhaps entirely her fault.
Something is being lost in Preston Falls for sure. Ultimately i decided it is time. People get older, perspectives change, unrealized dreams metastasize to haunting abscesses. These are not new concepts and there are no new answers as to why to be found in Preston Falls.
I won't say i want my dollar back, there is value in this book but only as a curious piece of evidence of Y2K pre-9/11 America. As i read Preston Falls it occurred to me this is the opposite of the coming-of-age tale that comprises such much of the fiction genre, and there should be a specific designation for this type of story--- mid-life crisis of the angry white male.
Uncoming of age?
The central character, Willis, is unfulfilled, in an unhappy marriage with two children he feels increasingly estranged from, in a job which leaves him unsatisfied but secure. The title refers to a town where wealthy outsiders pick up second homes, weekend cabins, and "play at country living amongst the slightly dangerous and wild locals". Willis I found to be a truly unlikable character. Angry at everything and frustrated that there should be more to all this "American dream" stuff he lands on the page ready to implode. The promised unraveling occurs rather quickly though Willis the character lacks the articulation to create empathy or understanding. He swears a lot. He convinces us he knows about guitars, cars, building--- but he does none of those things for a living. He just wants us to know he's a dude and he serves as the ringmaster of an improbable and juvenile downward spiral circus.
Perhaps this genre could be called Dude Bro lit. Or Angry Inarticulate Male melodrama.
What might be interesting is an explanation of how the Willis' of America became so angry they have now become Qanon devotees. This---and a slow burning disgust with Willis as he ranted on---
were the sole salient thoughts i had in the first 200 pages.
Fortunately he then disappears from the book and I was left to persue the resolution through the efforts of his poor wife. She turns out to be little more than a sketch, an attempt to display someone who is good and right and true who should be loved more but just doesn't cut it anymore and somehow its partly or perhaps entirely her fault.
Something is being lost in Preston Falls for sure. Ultimately i decided it is time. People get older, perspectives change, unrealized dreams metastasize to haunting abscesses. These are not new concepts and there are no new answers as to why to be found in Preston Falls.
July 24, 2017
Preston Falls by David Gates
This story is about a family, man wife and 2 kids. They travel to VT for their weekends to get away from the city.
Jean the wife is tired after working every day to drive 4 hours to get to the weekend house.
Willis the husband is on a leave, unpaid and is at odds with himself. After relatives leave early things fall apart for them.
She leaves with the kids to camp out one night before heading home because school starts. Willis ends up coming after them, gun in the truck along with the dog and gets into trouble and ends up in jail.
Story continues and we learn about the past as the kids grow older year after year. Roger is the oldest and has a mind of his own. Mel is a teen also and has her way of getting things done.
Interesting to learn about the northern town but I found a lot of abusive vulgar swearing-so unnecessary to get the point across.
He goes through his mid life crisis and she goes to find him, having no idea where he'd be...
Liked walks through the woods and other places described.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
This story is about a family, man wife and 2 kids. They travel to VT for their weekends to get away from the city.
Jean the wife is tired after working every day to drive 4 hours to get to the weekend house.
Willis the husband is on a leave, unpaid and is at odds with himself. After relatives leave early things fall apart for them.
She leaves with the kids to camp out one night before heading home because school starts. Willis ends up coming after them, gun in the truck along with the dog and gets into trouble and ends up in jail.
Story continues and we learn about the past as the kids grow older year after year. Roger is the oldest and has a mind of his own. Mel is a teen also and has her way of getting things done.
Interesting to learn about the northern town but I found a lot of abusive vulgar swearing-so unnecessary to get the point across.
He goes through his mid life crisis and she goes to find him, having no idea where he'd be...
Liked walks through the woods and other places described.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
February 5, 2022
"Preston Falls" takes on the familiar topic of upper-middle-class discontentment. It has similarities to Richard Russo, but darker, and Richard Yates, but more up to date. The first half focuses on Willis who hates his job, is generally angry about everything, and looks down his nose at everyone. This section is hilarious. The second half of the book is from his wife's perspective. I'm sure this says something about me, but I wasn't as interested in this section. Though seeing things from her perspective adds more depth to some of Willis' juvenile behavior in the first half.
It starts strong and loses some strength as it goes, but it's an entertaining look at some believable characters. Gates has a real ear for dialogue and is able to render very realistic pictures of complicated and contradictory people.
It starts strong and loses some strength as it goes, but it's an entertaining look at some believable characters. Gates has a real ear for dialogue and is able to render very realistic pictures of complicated and contradictory people.
August 28, 2017
I've recently returned to this and it stands up well on a second reading. Line by line, paragraph by paragraph, Gates is a master of close third-person narration. Of course the protagonist is an absolute nightmare (those who need to 'like' the characters should steer well clear) but he's an intriguing one. The minor characters are vivid, especially the Saul Goodman-esque corrupt lawyer, and there's the self-consciousness that Gates did so well in Jernigan, as the characters watch their own minds at work, casting a doleful eye over their thought processes and motivations. That Gates can take such badly behaved characters and make them so absorbingly, disturbingly entertaining is the mark of a great writer. Though not one who will be to everyone's taste.
October 7, 2019
Doug Willis has taken a two month sabbatical from his job. He is staying at his family's "needs work" home in Upstate New York. Things go badly. He spats with his wife when she visits. Things spiral downward ashe gets in fights with a park ranger and a policeman, and ultimately spends a brief period in jail. A lawyer who provides bail is a large cocaine trafficker and he blackmails Willis into being a messenger boy. Willis embraces the product he helps sell, but realizes he is in a mess and flees. The novel then shifts to his wife. I had a hard time reading this book. It was hard to like the characters which might be the authors point. It was salvaged for me by a pretty good ending. So I judge it a decent read.
January 16, 2020
Doug Willis lives in a cage of his own thoughts, each one undermining and negating the one that came before it. Consumed by cynicism and an inability to contain his worst impulses, on permanent leave from a dead-end job he despises, loathed by his wife and family, he steps off the treadmill of modern American upper-middle-class life (circa mid-90s), and that's it. That's the plot. Sometimes there's nowhere to go but down.
July 22, 2020
Good book, not fan of ending - too try hard open ending. Also some racist vibes in the author's description/constant pointing out of black people's skin colour as a descriptor when not necessary to character's internalisation.
October 25, 2025
I read this book in a few days. The dark humor throughout had me turning each page. There's nothing better compared to reading something enjoyable during a crispy Autumn morning. Having healthy time in solitude is peaceful.
March 20, 2020
A story of a dysfunctional family with unlikable characters that rings true on many levels.
April 19, 2021
I didn’t enjoy this book, it had a few moments you were worried about the characters but overall I didn’t enjoy reading about a marriage falling apart.
October 21, 2021
3rd time
September 11, 2025
A lesser Jernigan, this time with a woman’s point of view added for balance. Unfortunately she seems one-dimensional and a caricature of motherly anxiety.
October 3, 2017
This was a well written book about the years of a marriage then the fun is over and it's just work for all involved. A mid life crisis for both the husband and wife. Will they make it through? It is never quite clear. The Author did a good job of making both parties pretty unlikable. The guy is insensitive, immature and not much of a father. On the other hand, his wife is a raving bitch. So, who knows?
The writing was very pretentious at times. I'm not sure if it was to drive home what a pain in the ass both of these people are, or if the author just wanted us to know how well read he is. Literary reference is common, but he way over did it by having his characters discuss random books that most readers will not be familiar with. I sure wasn't. There is the possibility that the lengthy references were mirrors of what was going on in our story, but that would be giving the author too much credit, and it would be too hard to follow.
Anyway, a god, quick, engaging read, but could have been edited more.
The writing was very pretentious at times. I'm not sure if it was to drive home what a pain in the ass both of these people are, or if the author just wanted us to know how well read he is. Literary reference is common, but he way over did it by having his characters discuss random books that most readers will not be familiar with. I sure wasn't. There is the possibility that the lengthy references were mirrors of what was going on in our story, but that would be giving the author too much credit, and it would be too hard to follow.
Anyway, a god, quick, engaging read, but could have been edited more.
September 13, 2008
Another book I hated/loved to read. [Imagine reading about a marriage dissolving on labor day weekend...] I thought the dialog was perfect in places, the tiny ways family members can bug each other, how familiarity can breed contempt. Painful. [I thought some of the wife's thinking to herself and then second guessing herself, or saying something and then thinking something else, was true to life, and certainly the man's whole take on life seemed true to life, based on what I've seen and heard.]
It does seem like just a tale of a sad, too self-centered middle-aged man and his decline, unless we remember as one Amazon reviewer pointed out that the author references all those epic journeys: The Pilgrim's Progress, Lord of the Rings, Parsifal. I don't see the resolution of Willis' journey, though--not sure if/what we're supposed to take away from this long strange trip he's on, unless it's just to see how life feels for a modern man with wife and children (that is, trappped and burdened, as evidenced in the epigraph taken from The Pilgrim's Progress: "So I saw in my dream that the man began to run...his wife and children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on, crying "'Life! life! eternal life!'"
The author references so many books, including Dickens for the husband, Jane Austen for the wife. I'd have to go back through to see what they all mean.
The book seemed to nail the man/husband/father's horror and panic when he looks at his own [stuck] place in life, and also to nail the woman/wife/mother's acceptance of and dependence on her own place in that same life, albeit without the joy that we would like to think attends it. Though she is over the top in places, like the Halloween candy in separate bags, I think the author did a pretty good job of representing life as the wife might see it, and not making her a total bitch. I like this line for her: "Meaning what? he says. "Meaning I sometimes think there's something to be said for not having quite this daily level of unhappiness."
The kids certainly didn't feel the joy, either. Is that a symptom of modern life specifically? It's not just the suburbs.
Main characters: [Doug] Willis, Jean Karne Willis, Mel, Roger; Champ and Tina; Carol; Calvin, Philip Reed, and band members. I read it because it was on Colin Firth's bookshelf on Oprah.com. what he said about it piqued my curiosity. He said he likes the possibility of reconciliation at the end (something like that), but I didn't see it that way, but maybe that's one way to take it when she sees him walking after they split: "Where on earth could he be going? Well, it's none of her business anymore, he's made THAT clear. And, in fairness, she's made it clear too. She's not his business, he's not her business. As if they were back to being any two people. Isn't that the meaning of this? But look at him, walking away: that's Willis, absolutely."
It does seem like just a tale of a sad, too self-centered middle-aged man and his decline, unless we remember as one Amazon reviewer pointed out that the author references all those epic journeys: The Pilgrim's Progress, Lord of the Rings, Parsifal. I don't see the resolution of Willis' journey, though--not sure if/what we're supposed to take away from this long strange trip he's on, unless it's just to see how life feels for a modern man with wife and children (that is, trappped and burdened, as evidenced in the epigraph taken from The Pilgrim's Progress: "So I saw in my dream that the man began to run...his wife and children perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on, crying "'Life! life! eternal life!'"
The author references so many books, including Dickens for the husband, Jane Austen for the wife. I'd have to go back through to see what they all mean.
The book seemed to nail the man/husband/father's horror and panic when he looks at his own [stuck] place in life, and also to nail the woman/wife/mother's acceptance of and dependence on her own place in that same life, albeit without the joy that we would like to think attends it. Though she is over the top in places, like the Halloween candy in separate bags, I think the author did a pretty good job of representing life as the wife might see it, and not making her a total bitch. I like this line for her: "Meaning what? he says. "Meaning I sometimes think there's something to be said for not having quite this daily level of unhappiness."
The kids certainly didn't feel the joy, either. Is that a symptom of modern life specifically? It's not just the suburbs.
Main characters: [Doug] Willis, Jean Karne Willis, Mel, Roger; Champ and Tina; Carol; Calvin, Philip Reed, and band members. I read it because it was on Colin Firth's bookshelf on Oprah.com. what he said about it piqued my curiosity. He said he likes the possibility of reconciliation at the end (something like that), but I didn't see it that way, but maybe that's one way to take it when she sees him walking after they split: "Where on earth could he be going? Well, it's none of her business anymore, he's made THAT clear. And, in fairness, she's made it clear too. She's not his business, he's not her business. As if they were back to being any two people. Isn't that the meaning of this? But look at him, walking away: that's Willis, absolutely."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2013
Writing in brisk, fluent prose, Mr. Gates chronicles the day-by-day, almost minute-to-minute actions of these characters over a period of two months: we see exactly how they make tea, how they do the laundry, how they trade sarcastic remarks and how they avoid conversation. The effect is similar to looking at an exhibit of works by a Photo-Realist painter. We see a succession of snapshots that show exactly what someone's life looks like, from their car to their house to their taste in clothes. There is no past or future in such portraits, just the flashbulb glare of the present.
In the case of ''Preston Falls,'' this approach has its limitations. Mr. Gates not only writes in the present tense (in emulation, perhaps, of John Updike's ''Rabbit, Run''), but also confines most of his remarks about his characters to the here and now. Except for some vague allusions to Willis's difficult father and plans Willis once made to quit his job and find more meaningful work, the novel tells us almost nothing about its characters' pasts: we never really understand what brought Jean and Willis together in the first place or why their marriage began to sour.
In theory, this narrative strategy might sound pleasingly cinematic, but in practice, it deprives the reader of the sort of emotional history that might make Willis a less static and more sympathetic character. As it stands, we have little context for Willis's adolescent behavior (his reflexive put-downs of Jean, his callous disregard for his children, his sophomoric escape into alcohol and drugs) and so he remains, throughout the novel, a self-indulgent, self-pitying jerk, a small black hole at the center of what is otherwise a beautifully written novel.
In the case of ''Preston Falls,'' this approach has its limitations. Mr. Gates not only writes in the present tense (in emulation, perhaps, of John Updike's ''Rabbit, Run''), but also confines most of his remarks about his characters to the here and now. Except for some vague allusions to Willis's difficult father and plans Willis once made to quit his job and find more meaningful work, the novel tells us almost nothing about its characters' pasts: we never really understand what brought Jean and Willis together in the first place or why their marriage began to sour.
In theory, this narrative strategy might sound pleasingly cinematic, but in practice, it deprives the reader of the sort of emotional history that might make Willis a less static and more sympathetic character. As it stands, we have little context for Willis's adolescent behavior (his reflexive put-downs of Jean, his callous disregard for his children, his sophomoric escape into alcohol and drugs) and so he remains, throughout the novel, a self-indulgent, self-pitying jerk, a small black hole at the center of what is otherwise a beautifully written novel.
December 2, 2009
I decided to pick up David Gates "Preston Falls" after finding out that Nick Hornby (MY favorite author) admires his writing and said Gates is the reason he became a writer. Naturally, I was expecting some similarities in these authors writing styles.
Not only was "Preston Falls" one of the most boring, uninteresting books I have ever read, but the writing style is appalling! Every other word is set in italics, so the words that are set in regular text end up standing out more than the italics.
The characters are flat and underdeveloped and stereotypical...how convenient that the one African American character happens to be the poor drug dealer. The main character, Doug Willis, is supposed to be this Manhattan intellectual, but just because he picks up an obscure book once in a while? Besides reading, he's a gun-wielding cokehead who has a run-in with the law, and buys a beat up pick-up truck during his mid-life crisis. Intellectual is the absolute last word I'd use to describe this character.
Sorry Mr. Hornby, I won't be reading anything else written by David Gates...
Not only was "Preston Falls" one of the most boring, uninteresting books I have ever read, but the writing style is appalling! Every other word is set in italics, so the words that are set in regular text end up standing out more than the italics.
The characters are flat and underdeveloped and stereotypical...how convenient that the one African American character happens to be the poor drug dealer. The main character, Doug Willis, is supposed to be this Manhattan intellectual, but just because he picks up an obscure book once in a while? Besides reading, he's a gun-wielding cokehead who has a run-in with the law, and buys a beat up pick-up truck during his mid-life crisis. Intellectual is the absolute last word I'd use to describe this character.
Sorry Mr. Hornby, I won't be reading anything else written by David Gates...
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