Arcadio [Paperback]

William Goyen (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 147 pages
• Publisher: Triquarterly (July 6, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810150069
• ISBN-13: 978-0810150065
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,297,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars William Goyen's Arcadio is worth the challenge it provides., October 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Arcadio (Paperback)

Texas writer William Goyen's last novel, _Arcadio_, a first-person account of a hermaphrodite's swan song, provides readers with a challenge every bit worth the effort. If one has read other Goyen (House of Breath, stories from Had I a Hundred Mouths), then _Arcadio_ will satisfy the curiosity about how Goyen's fiction "ended." If one has never read a Goyen work, then this will surely inspire.

The novel tells the story of Arcadio, a freak by anyone's (including his own) standards; Goyen explores boundaries of sexuality, ethnicity, and language in the tale as Arcadio tells his story of existing in a world that categorizes people. It is tragic comedy or a comic tragedy, depending on the reader's viewpoint.

Goyen displays his talents as a student of human nature and his art with capturing authentic language. Arcadio's broken English (Spanglish), stream-of-consciousness style, aids readers in entering his tormented mind.

This book is for anyone who wants a good, but compelling read.

Trivia fact: Goyen's widow is Emmy-award-winning actress Doris Roberts (of Everybody Loves Raymond fame).

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a classic of style and boundary-breaking, October 22, 2004

By 

Robert Nagle "idiotprogrammer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arcadio (Paperback)

I'm a Texan who usually avoids reading Texan writers, but Goyen's work is thrilling, amazing, evocative, fast-paced and also very sensual and religious/spiritual.

This is one of those reviews I write when I discover to my horror that a great work of literature has received no comments on amazon (I've done this before for Felipe Alfau, Marco Vassi and Nina Berberova). It's been 10-15 years since I've read this book, and I remember next to nothing about it other than being utterly swept away by it. (I got it as a freebie when subscribing to Triquarterly--editor Reginald Gibbons seems to be a big Goyen fan also; his press also republished House of Breath). It's time to buy another copy!

He's unlike any Texas writer I know, esp in terms of imagery and style. Maybe Cormac McCarthy, but without the Wild West claptrap in McCarthy (don't get me wrong--I like it!) and much more accessible.

This is first class stuff.

1 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I didn't read this book., February 9, 2000

By 

Stan Xhiao (Boulder Sling, MT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Arcadio (Paperback)

But it came up when I searched for the term "family circus." Is the author a ruffiano?