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MoreThe Ploughmenby Kim ZupanPrice: $26.00(Hardcover)Published: September 30, 2014Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)From the Publisher:An NPR Best Book of 2014A Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selectionA "bleak and brilliant" (Minneapolis Star Tribune) debut novel ,"one ofthe finest evocations of life in Western America in recent memory, abook that stands alongside Richard Ford’s Rock Springs, MarilynneRobinson’s Housekeeping, James Welch’s Fools Crow." (WilliamKittredge)Steeped in a lonesome Montana landscape as unyielding and raw as it isbeautiful, Kim Zupan's The Ploughmen is a new classic in the literature ofthe American West.At the center of this searing, fever dream of a novel are two men—a killerawaiting trial, and a troubled young deputy—sitting across from each otherin the dark, talking through the bars of a county jail cell: John Gload, sobrutally adept at his craft that only now,…Rate This Book|Rate/ReviewAdd To BookshelfGet This BookGo to your preferred retailer, click to choose a format and you' ll be taken directly to their site whereyou can get this book.BookFilter
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Personalize / Add More ChoicesWhat We SayThis modern tale of the West has tense scenes of violence and murder but above all it's a character study of twomen. Young lawman Val is watching his marriage disintegrate over the dual pressures of his work and the bleakMontana landscape that is weighing his more successful wife down. John Gload is a prisoner in his jail who mayfinally pay for a lifetime of indifferent, soulless murder. Gload usually despises law enforcement but he takes a shineto Val and their late night heart-to-hearts become an uneasy dance as Val makes clear he'll report any confessionsGload might make and Gload tries to wrangle his way into getting Val to do one final act of mercy for this man whohas never shown any mercy in his life. Their dance is magnetic, with the reader wondering if Val will be draggeddown to Gload's level or perhaps Gload raised up to a moment of self-awareness and regret or perhaps both at thesame time. The crimes depicted in flashback or as they happen have a matter of fact brutality that is unnerving andreal but the main action takes place between these two men. In an otherwise strong debut, Zupan has a habit ofusing $5 words when a more commonplace one would suit just fine. It's a quirk one often sees in bad writing butrarely in good writing; yet seemingly on every other page I'd find myself having to look up a word. A good editor willtame this odd feature of prose that is otherwise strong and clear. A strong, compelling debut. -- MIchael GiltzLessWhat Others Say"Mr. Zupan produces pleasurably lush and baroque prose, especially when describing his setting’s awesome andunforgiving topography."—Wall Street Journal"Passionately arresting… Even though Zupan’s novel deals with grim topics, he plows the depths of grief andnumbness with such a concentrated dedication that the prose is a character in itself. His sentences are unleashed ina furious splendor… bleak and brilliant — the best kind of book."—Minneapolis Star Tribune"Stunning…A remarkable novel... It's almost hard to believe that it’s a debut…. It's a portrait of the West as asometimes desolate and cold place, full of possibility, maybe, but also full of danger from every corner. It's a modernWest, caught between the romance of the frontier and the mundane, harsh realities of living in the present day UnitedStates. And it’s absolutely beautiful, from its tragic opening scene to its tough, necessary end. Zupan is an unsparingwriter, but also a generous, deeply compassionate one."—NPR"Gripping… a strong debut for a talented wordsmith…. Zupan has that rare skill and we as readers are better off forit."…MoreWhat You Say