This is a novel so firmly located and vividly realised that you can almost. In the 1920s, two brothers from pennsylvania travel to the nimbus lumber mill in the cypress swampland of louisiana. With the clearing, southeastern booksellers award winner tim gautreaux delivers a brutal novel of love, family, and redemption. Attitude adjustment will appear in new and selected short stories, a collection forthcoming next year. The clearing by tim gautreaux books hachette australia. The clearing, tim gautreaux shop online for books in australia. The clearing by tim gautreaux, 9780340828908, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide.
Tim gautreaux is a novelist and shortstory writer who resides in tennessee. Byron aldridge was preordained to take over the familys mills until he comes back from france with the haunted expression of a poisoned dog and no interest in returning to pittsburgh. Tim gautreaux is currently considered a single author. This is a novel so firmly located and vividly realised that you can almost smell the louisiana swampwater as you read. See all books authored by tim gautreaux, including the scribner anthology of contemporary short fiction. The boston globe reading tim gautreauxs marvelous second novel, the clearing, is like immersing yourself in a film during daylight hours, losing complete track of time. The atmosphere of the novel is humid and snakeinfested, a swamp alive with mosquitoes and hungry alligators, stinkbugs and stench, flooding and freezing alternately. The miami herald the clearing is his very best yet, and to say that of tim gautreauxs writing is to say something is very fine indeed. About the clearing in his critically acclaimed new novel, tim gautreaux fashions a classic and unforgettable tale of two brothers struggling in a hostile world. The miami herald the clearing is his very best yet, and to say that of tim gautreaux s writing is to say something is very fine indeed. In his 1983 book, the people called cajuns, james dorman observes that cajuns rarely speak for themselves in the various sources that refer to themhistorical, biographical, or literarybut that same year louisianas tim gautreaux published his first short story, a sacrifice of doves, in the kansas quarterly.
Tim gautreauxs the clearing presents the reader with an interesting dilemma. Born and raised in louisiana, tim gautreaux lives there with his wife an is writer in residence at southeastern louisiana university. Oct 17, 2003 the clearing by tim gautreaux 320pp, sceptre. Stories by the heir of james dickey and flannery oconnor.
The clearing i selected this book because i had enjoyed so much, the missing, by the same author, tim gautreaux. Far from the pleasures of the jazz age and the comforts of his wealthy pittsburgh home, straightshooting randolph aldridge faces evil on a scale to match the worst of the world war that drove his older brother byron round the bend. Their father, noah note the biblical name, expected that. The clearing is a story of family, of what sustains people through loss, of establishing a community in the deepest wilderness and then defending it. Rick bass i have long been an avid admirer of tim gautreaux, but after reading the clearing i came to a rare and notable state of mind as a reader. Please be aware that this discussion guide may contain spoilers. Actually, this book is largely about the settinga lawless swamp in. The clearing is set deep in the louisiana swamp in 1923, in the isolated town of nimbus, a place hard to get to and even harder to get out of alive.
In 1972 he began teaching creative writing at southeastern louisiana university, where he directed the creative writing program until his retirement in 2003. Jul 15, 2004 the clearing by tim gautreaux, 9780340828908, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. The clearing by tim gautreaux 2003, hardcover for sale. His work has appeared in harpers, the atlantic monthly, gq, zoetrope, prize stories. The clearing by tim gautreaux ive almost forgotten what its like to read a book primarily about men. Randolph aldridge is the mill manager, while his elder brother, bryon, is the towns. The clearing by tim gautreaux book cover, description, publication history. Jem poster wades into frontier strife in tim gautreauxs the clearing. In tim gautreauxs 2003 novel the clearing, two brothers, randolph and byron aldridge, run a timber mill in the backwoods of louisiana. Dec 18, 2007 in his critically acclaimed new novel, tim gautreaux fashions a classic and unforgettable tale of two brothers struggling in a hostile world.
Jul 15, 2004 the novel that launched tim gautreaux internationally as one of the best contemporary american novelists a gripping tale of courage, violence and moral choices set in 1920s louisiana. And he reminds us that great writing is a timeless art. The clearing, tim gautreaux shop online for books in. If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author.
The story of a murderous battle for control, and a wise, compassionat. He attended nicholls state university and the university of south carolina, where he earned a phd in english literature. Byron aldridge, heir to a timber empire, returns from the first world war a changed man and finds refuge as a company po. Although he certainly doesnt condone such actions, gautreaux describes them so evocatively and in such detail that you almost suspect he is writing from firsthand experience. Tim gautreaux was born in morgan city, louisiana, in 1947. In his critically acclaimed new novel, tim gautreaux fashions a classic and unforgettable tale of two brothers struggling in a hostile world. Buy the clearing by tim gautreaux online at alibris. Read the clearing a novel by tim gautreaux available from rakuten kobo. May 11, 2004 the clearing i selected this book because i had enjoyed so much, the missing, by the same author, tim gautreaux. May 11, 2004 gautreaux has created, out of antique characters and a 1923 louisiana backwater, a parable about coping with modernity.
Randolph aldridge travels to a snakeinfested cypress mill in louisiana to find his brother byron, a troubled veteran of world war i. When you emerge from the theater, blinking and stunned by the sunshine, youre unwilling and unready to resume your normal life. His work has appeared in harpers, the atlantic monthly, gq, and zoetrope, as well as the o. The clearing isbn 9781400030538 pdf epub tim gautreaux. In his second novel, the clearing, he colonizes that claim. Palpably atmospheric, with a remarkable range of characters and emotions, the clearing displays more powerfully than ever before tim gautreauxs masterful understanding of time, place, and human nature. In a literal and figurative sense tim gautreauxs book is a journey tale. About this book the clearing is set deep in the louisiana swamp in 1923, in the isolated town of nimbus, a place hard to get to and even harder to get out of alive. His first novel, the next step in the dance, won the 1999 southeastern booksellers award, and he has also published two collections of short fiction. Tim gautreaux books list of books by author tim gautreaux. The fetid, snakeridden swamps of louisiana come alive in tim gautreauxs the clearing, a dark, depressing and violent tale set in a lawless logging camp during the 1920s. Tim gautreauxs second novel takes place at a lumber mill in the middle. Born and raised in louisiana, tim gautreaux has taught fiction for many years and lives with his family in hammond.
His novel the next step in the dance won the 1999 seba book award. He has obviously researched the hell out of this novel, yet, to his. Born and raised in louisiana, tim gautreaux is writerinresidence at southeastern louisiana university. There were no such problems for the bitter lemons, a cambridge reading group who kindly agreed to read and discuss tim gautreauxs the. At the books conclusion, when the survivors head towards the pacific north west to start the cycle of profitable destructiveness once more, youre. Byron aldridge was preordained to take over the familys mills until he comes back from france with the haunted expression. July 2003 wars hidden costs tim gautreauxs mesmerizing second novel opens with a family searching for one of its own in the years following wwi. This is a story about family, about marriage, about what sustains people through loss. Read the clearing by tim gautreaux available from rakuten kobo. Timothy martin gautreaux born 1947 in morgan city, louisiana is a novelist and short story writer his writing has appeared in the new yorker, best american short stories, atlantic, harpers, and gq. Randolph aldridge is the mill manager, while his elder brother, bryon, is the towns policeman. Palpably atmospheric, with a remarkable range of characters and emotions, it displays tim gautreauxs masterly understanding of time, place, and human nature. His novel the clearing won the 1999 southern independent booksellers alliance siba book award and the 2003 midsouth. At a flag stop in louisiana, a big, yellowhaired man named jules stepped off a day coach at a settlement of twelve houses and a shoebox station.
In tim gautreaux s 2003 novel the clearing, two brothers, randolph and byron aldridge, run a timber mill in the backwoods of louisiana. Wars hidden costs tim gautreaux s mesmerizing second novel opens with a family searching for one of its own in the years following wwi. In a lumber camp in the louisiana cypress forest, a world of mud and stifling heat where men labor under backbreaking conditions, the aldridge brothers try to. Fifty north american stories since 1970, and the clearing, and more on. The fetid, snakeridden swamps of louisiana come alive in tim gautreaux s the clearing, a dark, depressing and violent tale set in a lawless logging camp during the 1920s. Tim gautreaux is a wonderful writer, and the clearing is a unique and fascinating story. Its a dramatic, theatrical meditation on law and lawlessness, guilt and the hollowness of. In tim gautreaux s first novel, the next step in the dance, the author staked a literary claim to louisiana bayou country.
Tim gautreaux is also the author of the next step in the dance which won the 1999 seba book award same place, same things and welding with children. The missing is tim gautreauxs third novel, and has the impact of a book twice its length. In tim gautreaux spellbinding novel, the clearing, randolph aldridge sets out to locate and reclaim his shellshocked and spiritually lost older brother, byron. In a lumber camp in the louisiana cypress forest, a world of mud and stifling heat where men labor under backbreaking conditions, the aldridge brothers try to repair a broken bond. The clearing is an earlier book, and in writing terms, i felt that the missing was a slightly better book, but only because the author had not quite got into his stride. Tim gautreaux has 24 books on goodreads with 16089 ratings. Poisonous reptiles and pitiless mafiosi menace a man trying to redeem his shellshocked brother and recraft a lumberyard in 1920s louisiana. Randolphs odyssey takes him not only to the most remote, primitive and violent region of louisiana bayou virgin forest, but to the extremities of human nature as well. I selected this book because i had enjoyed so much, the missing, by the same author, tim gautreaux. Nimbus is a raw place, filled with snakes, alligators, hardfighting mill workers, and bountiful cypress trees. In a lumber, isbn 9781400030538 buy the the clearing ebook.
Jul 19, 2004 the clearing i selected this book because i had enjoyed so much, the missing, by the same author, tim gautreaux. In his critically acclaimed new novel, tim gautreaux fashions a. Randolph aldridge is the mills manager, sent by his fatherthe mill. A godforsaken mill town in the cypress swamps of louisiana is the setting for a bitter power struggle in this darkly lyrical, densely packed second novel by gautreaux the next step. Reading tim gautreauxs marvelous second novel, the clearing, is like immersing yourself in a film during daylight hours, losing complete track of time. Gautreaux has created, out of antique characters and a 1923 louisiana backwater, a parable about coping with modernity.
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