CLOSING ARGUMENTS CL [Hardcover]

Frederick Busch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 1991

Marcus Brennan is a successful small-town lawyer on the verge of a breakdown. His wife, Schelle, thinks it’s post-traumatic stress disorder from his years as a POW in Vietnam. Planning the dedication of a memorial for Vietnam soldiers, she asks Marcus to say a few words at the ceremony, hoping the experience will help to exorcise his demons. But after agreeing to defend Estella Pritchett, a social worker accused of murdering her lover, Marcus begins a downward spiral into the murky depths of his own past–where sex is violent, where love means betrayal, and where his own memories have the power to destroy him. . . .

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of Harry and Catherine and Absent Friends , among other distinguished literary works, Busch has reached a new level of achievement with this taut and gripping novel. Former Marine Phantom pilot Mark Brennan is a small-town attorney in upstate New York. He has a devoted wife who was active as an anti-war demonstrator, a high-school-age son who seems to be on the edge of big trouble, a daughter in New York who may have made a fatal romantic liaison, and his own demons--memories of Vietnam. Code-named Goblin, Brennan was shot down and captured by the Viet Cong. After several soul-crushing months enduring diabolical torture, he managed a bloody escape. Uncomfortable with his local-hero status and his wife's determination to perpetuate it, Brennan has an uneasy and distant relationship with his family; he lives inside his head most of the time, trying to suppress almost hallucinatory flashbacks to his desolate childhood and his later torments as a POW. But when he takes a pro bono murder case, defending a woman accused of killing her lover during rough sex, the past starts to intrude. Layer upon layer of lies and unbearable truths are peeled away as the trial progresses and Brennan succumbs to his own despair. In his disturbing, thrilling, imaginative exploration of some of the darkest sides of human experience, Busch has deftly transmuted rage and anguish into an extraordinary novel, one that packs a visceral wallop.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Mark Brennan was a Marine pilot who became a prisoner of the Vietcong. Now a lawyer in upstate New York, he confronts a failing marriage, a troubled son, and a dangerously seductive client on trial for murdering her lover in a motel bed. Both attorney and client suffer a dark legacy of past violence, and in both cases post-traumatic stress disorder leads to further destruction. As first-person narrator, Brennan observes that "the best defense is a good story," and his carefully wrought closing argument becomes a moving apology for his own life. Although the subplot involving Brennan's daughter (whom we encounter only via long-distance telephone) is not entirely convincing, the central narrative remains powerful. Busch's two previous works are Harry and Catherine (LJ 3/1/90) and Absent Friends (LJ 4/1/89), a collection of short stories.
- Al bert E. Wilhelm, Tennessee Technologi cal Univ., Cookeville
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; First Edition edition (August 21, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395589681
• ISBN-13: 978-0395589687
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,331,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The real action is not in the courtroom, December 5, 2000

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Closing Arguments (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

This is a powerfully written book, centered around a murder trial, but also driven by the personal disintegration of a defense lawyer, Mark Brennan. A former Vietnam Vet, he flashes back continuously to war experiences. A married father of two deeply troubled children, Mark's wife Rochelle tries to pull their crumbling twenty year marriage together by building a Vietnam War Memorial in their town. The whole family has so much difficulty comunicating to eachother, that their encounters seem almost mute. Mark, in a desperate attempt to define himself, takes on the case of a woman charged with murder during "rough sex". Perhaps inevitably, he becomes involved with this woman sexually. In an effort to understand the nature of the murder, exploring the consequences when people play with limits, he becomes emeshed with her story, blending in his own childhood abuse. The story finally becomes a lonely man's explanation to his wife of his tattered emotional life. This book is not easy to read, but the protagonist flays himself before the reader, making no apologies, expecting no forgiveness.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing., December 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Closing Arguments (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

I have just recently become a fan of Frederick Busch. This book was very disturbing and not easily forgotten. It hung on with me for several days. Mr. Busch is not a writer to take lightly.

He has a unique understanding of human behavior. His writing style is clean, like the cut of a knife.

This is not a comfortable book. You are left with no warm fuzzy feelings. So if you want a neat, satisfactory ending, you won't get it. But if, on the other hand, your willing to experience the miasma of the dark side, then this is for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Battles, Battles Everywhere, December 27, 2001

By 

Richard Brumberg (Wilmington, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Closing Arguments (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

This was a totally engrossing book. The chapters were short but the effect was long-lasting. Nowhere have I read a more brutal/brilliant account of the American male psyche. This book will leave you thinking about bigger issues long after you've put the book down. (Can you tell that I kind of liked this books?)