Backward-Facing Man: An Epic Generational Novel of 1960s Idealism and the Search for Redemption Decades Later - Softcover

Silver, Don

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060819294 ISBN 13: 9780060819293

Verlag: Ecco, 2006

Inhaltsangabe

Chuck Puckman, Lorraine Nadia, and Frederick Keane came of age in the late 1960s. Like that era, their lives were mysterious, idealistic, passionate, even romantic—but ultimately confused and often ineffectual. More than thirty years later, their youthful adventures continue to have ramifications: Chuck faces prosecution after an industrial accident at his family business, Lorraine's daughter is searching for the father she never knew, and Frederick has gone underground after his radical life spiraled out of control.

Epic in scope and touching on such provocative issues as Patty Hearst and the SLA, crime and the possibility of redemption, and the search for self and the meaning of life, Backward-Facing Man is a novel about choices and their lasting effects on people's lives, their families, and American society.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

For ten years, Don Silver was the president of a manufacturing company in Philadelphia. In 1999, he left corporate America to become a full-time writer. This is his first novel.

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Chuck Puckman, Lorraine Nadia, and Frederick Keane came of age in the late 1960s. Like that era, their lives were mysterious, idealistic, passionate, even romantic—but ultimately confused and often ineffectual. More than thirty years later, their youthful adventures continue to have ramifications: Chuck faces prosecution after an industrial accident at his family business, Lorraine's daughter is searching for the father she never knew, and Frederick has gone underground after his radical life spiraled out of control.

Epic in scope and touching on such provocative issues as Patty Hearst and the SLA, crime and the possibility of redemption, and the search for self and the meaning of life, Backward-Facing Man is a novel about choices and their lasting effects on people's lives, their families, and American society.

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Backward-Facing Man

A NovelBy Don Silver

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2006 Don Silver
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0060819294

Chapter One

Friday, March 13, 2000

"Facing backwards on a moving train," said the man sitting across fromher, "is the story of my life." He set his paper on the bench seat besidehim and looked out the window. It was early Friday morning, andthe first jags of sunlight struck the glass-and-metal office buildings in thedistance. She stared glumly at the headlines, sorry to be sitting in thosebench seats that faced one another, sorry to be vulnerable in this way atthis particular time, but there was nobody nearby when she firstboarded. Now, bone tired and barely awake, there was no easy restingplace for her eyes.

The backward-facing man was wearing a wrinkled plaid suit jacket;a black sweater; gray, grass-stained sweatpants; and an old pair of runningshoes. His hair, mostly gray and uneven, long in the back, bushy onone side, was stuffed inside a Seattle Mariner's cap, and his face wascovered with stubble that reminded her of a hobo from the cover of oneof her mother's old Woody Guthrie records. He'd taken the seat diagonallyacross from her under a poster that said worker bees—findyour stinger. A yellow-and-black-striped insect with a lurid smilecalled for pissed-off employees to report their companies for copyingsoftware. He was breathing heavily, struggling to catch his breath. Whenhe sat down, he stuck his face forward and looked her up and down.

Any halfway-decent-looking girl who rides the train every weekdaysooner or later gets hit on. And Stardust Nadia presented well—shortskirt, nice legs, shoulder-length blonde hair cut stylishly, full lips, a smallturned-up nose, and yellow-brown eyes that sparkled no matter howimpassive her expression. When she first started this job, she actuallylistened to them—lawyers bragging how they'd saved their clients, corporateweenies with their schemes to dominate markets, rumpled collegeprofessors fetching for respect. In the beginning, it fascinated herhow white-collar warriors puffed themselves up for battle and thendragged home their prey, how they licked their wounds, how they whisperedand laughed into their cell phones and whined to one anotherabout being misunderstood. But after a couple weeks, she stopped payingattention.

Most mornings, she sat like the Sphinx, arms by her sides, handsfolded around her purse, head tilted slightly back, staring straightahead, daydreaming about one thing or another. When somebody triedto chat her up, she let her eyes go distant and pursed her lips, drainingthem of color. In her mind, this lent a certain meanness to an otherwisepliant look. As the backward-facing man looked her up and down, sheshut her eyes and exhaled.

Stardust was what Mr. Stretton, the HR manager, called a "membrane"between Drinker & Sledge, P.C., and their clients, the underbellyof society. It isn't that bad once you learn to play the game: transferringcallers before they could start in with their tales of woe. Still she hatedlistening to people whine and bitch and lie about how wonderful theirlives would be if only this or that had or hadn't happened. As if winninga lawsuit was going to make them happier. The job was a way of doingtime, as her mother used to say.

As the backward-facing guy lifted his hands from his knees andstarted talking to her, she imagined herself slipping out of a tent in themountains of Colorado, tying her hair back while her traveling companionfilled his coffee mug and wrestled into a white ribbed undershirt,which reminded her of a commercial for men's underwear. Sinceher mother disappeared, Stardust had been leaving the TV on. Thatmorning, she'd seen June Carter and Johnny Cash on the Today Show,and she had "Amazing Grace" in her head. Stardust imagined herself on a chain gang and let the thwacks underneath them, percussive and loud,tap out a rhythm she could sing to. She gave the little voice in her headsome vibrato, a little old-time religion.

As the man leaned toward her, she hugged her handbag and let hereyelids flutter. "How much do you know about the past?" he said,sounding as though he was actually trying to start a serious conversation.She glanced at him sideways. If he was a drunk or homeless guy, hisfall from grace was recent. He looked troubled and tired, but intelligent,and he smelled of a combination of cigarettes, soil, and booze. Shewished she'd brought something to read, but it was Friday and she wastraveling light.

"It's not just a random question." Tiny bits of spittle formed andthen connected themselves to the corners of his mouth as he spoke."I'm not some lunatic. I'm talking about Boston, 1968, just before youwere born." His hands moved in little circles as he talked. He did seemmore eccentric than dangerous.

Stardust made a little curtsy with her face, keeping her eyes focusedout the window. The train rocked side to side, past cushionless couchespushed up against vacant buildings, jagged graffiti on the undersides ofbridges, corrugated metal sheds, junk heaps, and skinny dogs. A fewmore stops and they'd be in Center City. "What I mean to say is . . . Imean . . . Jesus, you look just like her . . ."

In a few minutes, she'd be taking the steps in Suburban Station twoat a time with the urban professionals and their gym bags, their cellphones and their changes of shoes. Poor guy, she thought, fingering thelatch on her bag. Jewelry, panties, toothbrush, and a flashlight. Thejewelry and flashlight were for adventuring. The essentials. She'd beensurprised how many after-hours clubs had no lights in the ladies'rooms. And there'd been more than a few occasions she needed to findher rings, her shoes, and sometimes even her wallet on the bedspread orthe floor of a dark hotel room in the middle of the night . . .

Continues...

Excerpted from Backward-Facing Manby Don Silver Copyright © 2006 by Don Silver. Excerpted by permission.
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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Ecco
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2006
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0060819294
• ISBN 13: 9780060819293
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irland