Customer Reviews

Arcadio

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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).

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.

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