A Piece of My Heart

by Richard Ford

In Richard Ford's first novel, two men, each on his own separate quest, meet on an island in the Mississippi, and violence erupts.

Editions of A Piece of My Heart

ISBN 9780394729145	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Random House Inc	Date 1985	Price $1.00	Good
ISBN 9780060113629	Binding/Format Book	Publisher Harper & Row	Date 1976	Price $12.10	Used - Acceptable
ISBN 9780676511116	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher Random House Inc	Date 1996	Price $9.69	Very Good

Media Reviews

"The South--dadgummit--has struck again, marring what might have been an excellent first novel. 'A Piece of My Heart' shows obvious promise, but it also exhibits all the characteristic vices of Southern fiction. Those vices, in my view, are so numerous that there would not be space to list them all, but it won't hurt to tick off a few, starting with portentiousness....If the vices this novel shares with its many little Southern cousins could be squeezed into one word, the word would be neo-Faulknerism....It reminds us of the Faulkner whose passion for rhetoric so often swamped his instinct for syntax....One would hope that, in Mr. Ford's case, these vices won't prove incurable. His minor characters are vividly drawn, and his ear is first-rate. If he can weed his garden of the weeds and cockleburrs of his tradition, it might prove very fertile."

First Line

W. W. came down the levee in the rain, his old Plymouth skidding out of the ruts and his gun barrel pointed wildly out the window, still warm from being shot.

Review this book!