Against the Country: A Novel

Synopsis

Against the Country is a gift for fans of Southern Gothic and metafiction alike. Set in the Virginia pines, and overrun with failed parents, racist sex offenders, cast-off priests, and suicidal chickens, this novel challenges literary convention even as it attacks our national myth--that the rural naturally engenders good, while the urban breeds an inevitable sin. In a voice both perfectly American and utterly new, Metcalf introduces the reader to Goochland County, Virginia--a land of stubborn soil, voracious insects, lackluster farms, and horrifying trees--and details one family's pitiful struggle to survive there. Eventually it becomes clear that Goochland is not merely the author's setting; it is a growing, throbbing menace that warps and scars every one of his characters' lives. Equal parts fiery criticism and icy farce, Against the Country is the most hilarious sermon one is likely to hear on the subject of our native soil, and the starkest celebration of the language our land produced. The result is a literary tour de force that raises the question: Was there ever a narrator, in all our literature, so precise, so far-reaching, so eloquently misanthropic, as the one encountered here?Advance praise for Against the Country "Exceptional in its verbal brilliance and conscientiousness, Against the Country involves us in a family's anguished and hilarious struggle against the strange dooms that seem peculiar to white rural America. This is a savage and gladdening novel."--Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland and The Dog "This novel is a lightning strike. It is a surge of electrical energy captured inside sentences. Ben Metcalf is a master of rhetoric and rage and persuasion and darkness and wit. Against the Country is an explosion of a book."--Heidi Julavits, author of The Vanishers "Ben Metcalf is a brilliant writer, and Against the Country is an ingenious and hilarious novel, a glittering, bitter celebration of how the lousiness of life can be redeemed in the hands (and mouth) of a top-shelf teller of life's stories."--Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask and The Fun Parts "Against the Country makes me feel joyful the way Candide, for all its astute gloominess, makes me feel better about the world because such a brilliant, funny thing has been made in it. The intelligence is generous and omnipresent, and every single page made me laugh."--Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances "To find anything reminiscent of this writing you'd need to go back about 150 years, though it sounds new in Metcalf's handling and occasionally even punk. What he has to say about American childhood is frightening and true. Virginia, you have been both honored and shamed by your wayward son."--John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead: Essays "This publisher's debut to beat . . . acid insights, raw energy."--Library JournalFrom the Hardcover edition.-Metcalf is the former literary editor of Harper's Magazine--features an angry young man 'schooled in the subtle truths and blatant lies of a half life in the American countryside, all because my parents did not trust that I would mature to their specifications in town.' Acid insights, raw energy."--Library JournalFrom the Hardcover edition.

Copyright:

2015

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9780812996531

Related ISBNs:

9781400062690

Publisher:

Random House Publishing Group

Date of Addition:

08/22/19

Copyrighted By:

Ben Metcalf

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Literature and Fiction, Parenting and Family

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.