Falconer [Paperback]

John Cheever (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1992

Stunning and brutally powerful, Falconer tells the story of a man named Farragut, his crime and punishment, and his struggle to remain a man in a universe bent on beating him back into childhood. Only John Cheever could deliver these grand themes with the irony, unforced eloquence, and exhilarating humor that make Falconer such a triumphant work of the moral imagination.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Cheever's triumph.... A great American novel." —Newsweek

"One of the most important novels of our time.... Read it and be ennobled." —The New York Times

"Falconer is splendid. It is rough, it is elegant, it is pure. It is also indispensable, if you earnestly desire to know what is happening to the human soul in the U.S.A." —Saul Bellow

"One of our truly fine writers.... The novel proceeds directly on its course, taking the reader along with it.... Moving and excellent." —The Washington Post

From the Publisher

7 1-hour cassettes --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679737863
• ISBN-13: 978-0679737865
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Newsweek called Falconer "A Great American Novel" . . ., January 27, 2000

By 

Allen Smalling "Constant Reader," (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Falconer (Paperback)

. . . and I agree! As implausible as it sounds, Cheever achieved literary greatness in a prison novel with its central character a college professor and murderer who is also a heroin addict and a guilty, closeted homosexual. "Oh Farragut, Farragut, why is you an addict?" asks his guard, and through flashback and reminiscence we learn how and why. One of those rare books that takes place largely in the mind but is truly gripping--and the Attica-like prison Farragut is confined to holds a few surprises of its own. It is hard to overpraise "Falconer." Honestly, if you don't like this book you don't like modern American fiction.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark story of modern punishment and redemption, November 20, 2004

By 

immortal pickwick "cinncinatusc" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Falconer (Paperback)

For readers compeled by Cheever's recurring themes throughout his short stories probing dysfunctional suburban middle-class families this book won't disappoint. But here, Cheever turns his attention to a heroin-addict named Ezekiel Farragut imprisoned at Falconer, a grey obsolescent "correctional facility," for fratricide. Deeply critical of modern forms of punishment, and drawing on his own experiences as teacher at Sing-Sing in the 70s, Cheever depicts a plutonian world of iron and concrete and dripping pipes where the forgotten and forgettable are kept behind bars, their humanity supressed and marginalized. Ezekiel, or Zeke, comes from a genteel family fractured after a reversal of fortunes that closely resembles Cheever's own family and childhood. The story of Zeke's wayward brother, his gas attendant mother and disconnected father deftly weaves in and out of his year-long death in Falconer and finally his gripping and unexpected rebirth, somewhat reminiscent of a modern Crime and Punishment. In spite of the book's difficult subject matter, the dark sides of humanity and society and relentless dealings with hopeless characters and rather sordid scenes, Cheever succeeds in drawing in his captive reader and forces us to ask tough questions about ourselves and the retributive society we live in. An important read, but not for the fainthearted!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the Cheever you expect but fine for all that, December 13, 1999

By 

Doug Vaughn - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Falconer (Paperback)

I came to this book recently after a period of reading basically junk, so I may have liked it much better than otherwise because it was so superior to the low rent popular fiction I had been consuming. Much bleaker than I would have expected of Cheever, this story follows a man imprisoned for murder who must come to terms with how totally his life has changed. Slow paced and thorough, the 'plot' occurs more in the actions of the protagonist's mind than in the external world of the prison, yet maintains its hold on the reader.

One aspect of the story that stood out for me was the matter of fact way in which the protagonist takes a same sex lover, explaining how important real human contacts - physical and otherwise - were to maintaining sanity. I think these scenes are both believable and understandable to the most heterosexual of readers. A further testiment to Cheever's talent as a writer.

I can't say that this is a pleasant book. But it kept my interest till the end, and I haven't been able to really put the book behind me. On the other hand, I couldn't even tell you the titles of the other books I was reading at this time.