Waterborne

by Murkoff, Bruce

Price: $7.95
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Book description: Knopf, 2004. Hardcover book is in new condition, unread, dust jacket in like new condition. Dust jacket shows no signs of wear on top and bottom of spine edges. Inside of book pages are crisp and clean. Price stamp from bookstore on front of dust jacket. Publisher: Knopf. ISBN 1400040388. 397 pages long. Size 9.5 by 6.5 x 1.5. Additional pictures of condition are always available. BOOK DESCRIPTION: Murkoff's stately debut novel tracks three characters whose lives and fates converge at the building of the Boulder Dam near Las Vegas during the Great Depression. Filius Poe, an engineer, escapes from Chicago and heads to Boulder City to bury himself in work, hoping to erase memories of a recent tragedy. Lena McCardell, too, is fleeing calamity, hoping for a new start with her young son in tow. And then there is Lew Beck, born to loving parents but eventually hardened into a bitter avenger after years of being tormented for his abnormal shortness. Murkoff takes his time laying out each individual's story, but the novel's pace, though measured, never flags, and eventually all three characters arrive in Boulder City, "the only city in America where everyone has a job." At times, Filius seems a bit too much like a square-jawed, heroic martyr and Lena the picture of persevering female strength. Murkoff's strongest creation is Lew, a terrifying, angry man prone to quick and violent outbursts, who "looked for the soft places" in people "and remembered them." He moves through the novel like a menacing black cloud, earning both the reader's sympathy and disgust. Murkoff's precise, period-flavored prose deftly captures the inner lives and physical presence of his characters (Lena's friend Fanny makes an appearance "trailing a Max Factor lilac scent that overpowered the smell of the fresh-baked doughnuts she carried in a paper sack") as well as the harsh landscape of Nevada ("the dull richness of this carmine palette, with its rugged skin and dismal reach") and the Colorado River that must be tamed. Bruce Murkoff's debut novel, Waterborne, is a story about one of the great engineering achievements of American history, the construction of the Hoover Dam, and if this book does not convince you that historical fiction is worth the candle, maybe you should just read history or, better yet, give up reading altogether, for it is lost on you. Waterborne is a formidable achievement, an engrossing story, masterfully told -- and the dam is only a small part of it.. Hard Cover. New/As New. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

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