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The Cherry Pit
Clifford Stone--quixotic curator of arcane Americana at a Boston antiques foundation and cataloguer of our "Vanished American Past"--forsakes Boston and his icy wife to return to his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, and a life that is both instantly familiar and disturbingly strange. Cliff's journey home begins as a recovery mission, but it becomes a desperate search for, confrontation with, immersion in, and emergence from his lost past. In a series of libidinous, murderous, hilarious and anxious adventures, Cliff renews old friendships--including one with a girl he thought he'd forgotten--and makes some new enemies. The Cherry Pit is a flamboyant, lascivious, comic novel about restoration and renewal--and, like all proper comic novels, a serious book.
- GenresFiction
461 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
11 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Donald Harington
37 books114 followersDonald Douglas Harington was an American author. All but the first of his novels either take place in or have an important connection to "Stay More," a fictional Ozark Mountains town based somewhat on Drakes Creek, Arkansas, where Harington spent summers as a child.
Harington was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He lost nearly all of his hearing at age 12 due to meningitis. This did not prevent him from picking up and remembering the vocabulary and modes of expression among the Ozark denizens, nor in conducting his teaching career as an adult.
Though he intended to be a novelist from a very early age, his course of study and his teaching career were in art and art history. He taught art history in New York, New England, and South Dakota before returning to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, his alma mater, where he taught for 22 years before his retirement on 1 May 2008.
Harington is acclaimed as one of America's greatest writers of fiction, if not one of its best known. Entertainment Weekly called him "America's greatest unknown writer." The novelist and critic Fred Chappell said of him "Donald Harington isn't an unknown writer. He's an undiscovered continent." Novelist James Sallis, writing in the Boston Globe: "Harington's books are of a piece -- the quirkiest, most original body of work in contemporary U.S. letters."
Harington died of pneumonia, after a long illness, in Springdale on 7 November 2009.
Harington's novels are available from The Toby Press in a uniform edition, with cover illustrations by Wendell Minor. Since his death, The Toby Press has made available the entire set of Harington novels as The Complete Novels of Donald Harington.
Harington was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He lost nearly all of his hearing at age 12 due to meningitis. This did not prevent him from picking up and remembering the vocabulary and modes of expression among the Ozark denizens, nor in conducting his teaching career as an adult.
Though he intended to be a novelist from a very early age, his course of study and his teaching career were in art and art history. He taught art history in New York, New England, and South Dakota before returning to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, his alma mater, where he taught for 22 years before his retirement on 1 May 2008.
Harington is acclaimed as one of America's greatest writers of fiction, if not one of its best known. Entertainment Weekly called him "America's greatest unknown writer." The novelist and critic Fred Chappell said of him "Donald Harington isn't an unknown writer. He's an undiscovered continent." Novelist James Sallis, writing in the Boston Globe: "Harington's books are of a piece -- the quirkiest, most original body of work in contemporary U.S. letters."
Harington died of pneumonia, after a long illness, in Springdale on 7 November 2009.
Harington's novels are available from The Toby Press in a uniform edition, with cover illustrations by Wendell Minor. Since his death, The Toby Press has made available the entire set of Harington novels as The Complete Novels of Donald Harington.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 1, 2015
This is one of those books that I enjoyed, but would be very hesitant to recommend to another reader. Why? Because it's hard for me to pinpoint precisely why I liked it. Obviously, part of my enjoyment of the novel comes from the fact that, as an Arkansan, I'm going to be positively biased toward a narrative set in my home state and written by an Arkansan. As for the rest, I'm still mulling that over because this is normally not a book that would work for me and, yet, it did.
Clifford "Nub" Stone has successfully escaped his Arkansas roots by moving to Boston, marrying a socialite and finding academic work as a cataloger of American antiquities. However, as his wife proves to be frigid and his work consumes him, the siren song of home lures him back to Little Rock and a chance to reclaim the man he once was. Believing that a return trip to Arkansas will be the balm to all of his ills, he finds that his hometown has moved on without him and isn't waiting with open arms: his friends have grown distant, the city-scape itself has changed and his family resents that it took so long for the prodigal son to return home after so willingly abandoning them for the respectability and culture provided by New England.
After a chance encounter with an old flame, Margaret, Clifford becomes obsessed with this potentially unhinged Southern Helen of Troy. It's not long before Clifford has reconnected with two old friends: Naps, a well-to-do black man, and Dall, a racist Little Rock cop, and this unlikely trio goes on a quixotic journey to try and save Margaret from herself and from her overbearing mother--often to comedic effect.
There were some uncomfortable themes in the book stemming from the time period. The Little Rock depicted in the novel is that of the 1960s, still suffering from the racial tensions of the desegregation of Central High School, but Donald Harington portrays the racism without writing a racist novel--indeed, Clifford's close relationship with Naps helps to reform Dall. Also, the oversexed Clifford almost makes up for his objectification of women by his genuine desire to help Margaret and his attempts at sexual escapades while on "vacation" from his wife are thwarted at every turn.
I initially picked up the book because of Harington's reputation and Arkansas connections. I'm not sure what I was expecting (I mean, c'mon, look at that boring ass cover), but what I ended up with was a wacky, meandering, and sometimes profound novel about identity, the past and home as a place that you can never quite return to but never quite escape. Harington is like a precursor to Carl Hiaasen, documenting the quirky, the unbelievable and the eccentricities of a particular time and location.
However, be forewarned: the book starts slowly and ends without much of a resolution. However, if you just go along for the ride without the expectation of arriving at a particular destination, you might just enjoy yourself.
Clifford "Nub" Stone has successfully escaped his Arkansas roots by moving to Boston, marrying a socialite and finding academic work as a cataloger of American antiquities. However, as his wife proves to be frigid and his work consumes him, the siren song of home lures him back to Little Rock and a chance to reclaim the man he once was. Believing that a return trip to Arkansas will be the balm to all of his ills, he finds that his hometown has moved on without him and isn't waiting with open arms: his friends have grown distant, the city-scape itself has changed and his family resents that it took so long for the prodigal son to return home after so willingly abandoning them for the respectability and culture provided by New England.
After a chance encounter with an old flame, Margaret, Clifford becomes obsessed with this potentially unhinged Southern Helen of Troy. It's not long before Clifford has reconnected with two old friends: Naps, a well-to-do black man, and Dall, a racist Little Rock cop, and this unlikely trio goes on a quixotic journey to try and save Margaret from herself and from her overbearing mother--often to comedic effect.
There were some uncomfortable themes in the book stemming from the time period. The Little Rock depicted in the novel is that of the 1960s, still suffering from the racial tensions of the desegregation of Central High School, but Donald Harington portrays the racism without writing a racist novel--indeed, Clifford's close relationship with Naps helps to reform Dall. Also, the oversexed Clifford almost makes up for his objectification of women by his genuine desire to help Margaret and his attempts at sexual escapades while on "vacation" from his wife are thwarted at every turn.
I initially picked up the book because of Harington's reputation and Arkansas connections. I'm not sure what I was expecting (I mean, c'mon, look at that boring ass cover), but what I ended up with was a wacky, meandering, and sometimes profound novel about identity, the past and home as a place that you can never quite return to but never quite escape. Harington is like a precursor to Carl Hiaasen, documenting the quirky, the unbelievable and the eccentricities of a particular time and location.
However, be forewarned: the book starts slowly and ends without much of a resolution. However, if you just go along for the ride without the expectation of arriving at a particular destination, you might just enjoy yourself.
July 3, 2011
Bawdy, earthy, chuckling, this book is like being approached by a trench-coated stranger who, grinning widely, whips open his coat to reveal...a 3-piece suit. After you recover from your flinch and start to smile, he, still grinning, rips away the side snaps of his pants to flash you, for reals. Depending on who you are, you either retreat in disgust or burst out laughing and clap him on the back, joining him in the nearby bar for stories. Slightly long-winded stories, but sprinkled with humor and full of questions, a few realizations.
Nub is slowly losing zest for life in Boston with his frigid, too-familiar wife Pamela and a curatorial job. He holds the belief that society is disintegrating the values of the past and, and, er, it's bad (I've forgotten how it's phrased, exactly). In Little Rock, he has the thought of obtaining some carnal pleasures that have been absent in his marriage and reconnects with his old, racist friend Dall Hawkins; his black, childhood friend Naps; and a former girlfriend and black-haired mystery Margaret. He becomes rivals with a playwright who turns out to have the same beliefs and dismay about society as he does, although they never meet. It's a strange collection of events when I look back at it now, a rambling jumble.
I've come to hold the belief that "home" is made up of people and only incidentally associated with a physical location. Nub Stone returns home to Little Rock to try to figure some things out, and appears to come to the opposite conclusion. Or rather, he had the wrong people in mind? The events were a little wacky, but the love in the descriptions of place were palpable.
Nub is slowly losing zest for life in Boston with his frigid, too-familiar wife Pamela and a curatorial job. He holds the belief that society is disintegrating the values of the past and, and, er, it's bad (I've forgotten how it's phrased, exactly). In Little Rock, he has the thought of obtaining some carnal pleasures that have been absent in his marriage and reconnects with his old, racist friend Dall Hawkins; his black, childhood friend Naps; and a former girlfriend and black-haired mystery Margaret. He becomes rivals with a playwright who turns out to have the same beliefs and dismay about society as he does, although they never meet. It's a strange collection of events when I look back at it now, a rambling jumble.
I've come to hold the belief that "home" is made up of people and only incidentally associated with a physical location. Nub Stone returns home to Little Rock to try to figure some things out, and appears to come to the opposite conclusion. Or rather, he had the wrong people in mind? The events were a little wacky, but the love in the descriptions of place were palpable.
December 14, 2009
A friend of mine classed this book as being like "bad john irving" and while it didn't occur to me while I was reading the book, she's right, the styles are very similar.And I still thought the book was reasonably good so am really looking forward to the rest of his books which my friend says are way better than this one. Unfortunately, the author died fairly recently so there won't be any more books by him.
May 29, 2008
I had to give this one a few days before writing: I really liked it, but the ending was so dissatisfying that I had to think about whether it was the author or the narrator who was to blame. I decided it was the narrator, and therefore the author did a hell of a job getting me involved enough to give a damn about the decisions of a figment of his imagination. So that's good.
December 15, 2022
“I would like to linger longer and look for those redeeming microcosms that Margaret spoke of, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Besides, I have walked down these streets a thousand times before. I don't think I will again.”
July 30, 2012
What a discovery this was! I'd never heard of Donald Harington until Amazon magically brought him to my notice - and how grateful I am. This is a wonderful book - not quite 5* but getting on that way. Really enjoyed it. Quite quirky at times, unusual, great use of vocabulary too! Glad my Kindle has a dictionary! I wholeheartedly recommend it, and if this is an indication of his other books, he definitely deserves to be better known.
April 27, 2009
Although I have not read Jack Butler's LIVING IN LITTLE ROCK WITH MISS LITTLE ROCK, I cannot believe there is a better and more fully imagined novel about Arkansas' capital than this helluva good story about Cliff Stone. It is imaginative, creative, and as with all of Harington's novels, fully realized. I wholly and unreservedly recommend it.
January 3, 2011
Enjoyed it very much. From having lived in Little Rock for a short while, most of the places were familiar.
June 18, 2013
A good book in its own right, but if you want the real magic of Don Harington, you have to read one of his "Stay-More" books - just about any of the other novels will do as a starting point.
February 21, 2016
This is the second time I tried to read this book and am giving it up for good. Just too wordy and going nowhere.
August 10, 2010
A great book by a great, under-read writer.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews