Customer Reviews

Falconer

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

. . . 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.

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!

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.

More than just a prison novel. More than just a Cheever novel. This book transcends genre and defies catagorization. "Falconer" is the absolutely gripping story of one man's struggle with himself in an environment more brutal than you can imagine. By that, I mean emotional and spiritual brutality as much as physical brutality.

The book allows us to enter Farragut's life so completely and understand the motivations that drive his decisions. We can identify with his struggles, even his drug addiction, which he feels is "a beautiful illustration of the bounds of his mortality." We yearn for his redemption, but we fear he may never achieve it. This is truly a profound and moving novel.

I bought this novel almost by accident. I decided to buy and read the novel because it is a Penguin Classic and I had not read any of Cheever's other works, although I had read one short story by him. This is a short novel, or a long novella less than 160 pages. It follows part of the life of a man in prison.

The novel is more than just a prison novel; but saying that, it is a prison novel about men, their fantasies, their wants, their values, and tales of men having sex with other men in prison. If you do not want to read about men having sex in prison, then skip the book.

"Falconer" is the story of one man's struggle with himself in a prison. It describes his outside family, his fellow inmates, and the affair that he develops in prison. It describes his inner turmoil and motivations. I did not find Farragut - the protagonist of the tale - to be a sympathetic personality in any fashion. One can understand him, but sympathy is a different matter. Values in life can be described as moral relativism with no absolute rights and wrongs but here the protagonist makes many decisions for short term gratification with dire long term consequences. This isolated him from society, and of course many people live in isolation and in different ways so the book has a more universal resonance.

The book was superbly written, and one can appreciate Saul Bellow's kind words about the book and its author which appears on the book jacket. The prose and the structure show the obvious skill of Cheever. It is difficult to give the book anything less than 5 stars.

The intensity and bluntness of "Falconer," John Cheever's fourth novel, will almost certainly surprise those who have read his other novels. The author's tendency to write darker and darker novels over the years is not nearly enough to prepare his readers for the shock that is "Falconer."

"Falconer" is Cheever's famous "prison novel," the story of 48-year-old Ezekiel Farragut, a genteel professional who, in a drugged fit of rage, one night murders his own brother. Now, Zeke Farragut is just another inmate in a maximum security prison called Falconer, a man still fighting his drug addiction and trying to maintain his sanity in an environment for which nothing in his old life could have prepared him.

Prison is, of course, an environment in which homosexual acts are common, a world in which sexual violence and intimidation simply cannot be controlled by those in charge of the system. Cheever often included homosexual or bisexual characters in his previous novels but, before "Falconer," he never described the men or their sexual activity in the frank terms he uses to describe Farragut's day-to-day existence inside the Falconer system.

John Cheever novels particularly appeal to readers who enjoy short stories because of the way that he allows his characters to tell stories seeming to have little to do with the main plots of his novels. In this way, Cheever creates some of the most memorable characters of recent decades and builds detailed environments for his novels. Often, in fact, readers will become so immersed in a Cheever side-plot that they return to his main plot with a jolt. "Falconer" is no exception because of the way Cheever allows many of Falconer's prisoners to explain to Farragut just how they ended up in the prison.

The strength of "Falconer" is its cast of characters: prisoners, guards, and visitors, alike. Cheever is not as successful, however, in creating a totally believable prison environment because the novel touches so lightly on the racial and gang violence common in prisons even in the 1970s. Some of what he describes inside Falconer is more surrealistic than realistic, a choice that somewhat lessens the impact of this terrific character-study.

That said, "Falconer" made a huge splash when it was first published and it is a major literary achievement that deserves to be read today, some three decades after its publication.

Rated at: 4.0

This is the odd and fully compelling story of an upper class privileged man who becomes a murderer and drug addict and is sent to prison. The novel is perfectly balanced between action within the prison and multiple flashbacks of the life of Farragut, a rebel college professor with a dysfunctional family of origin. Some might say it is a prison novel but Cheever weaves a masterful tale that takes us back into the past and then pulls us into the present behind the bars of Falconer prison.

There may also be those who would say this is a gay novel for in prison Farragut has a romantic love affair with another married man. But this misses the point that Cheever is trying to make regarding the flexibility of the human condition, the ability to fall in love with those of the same gender or opposite gender, and the way conditions, situations, loneliness and isolation can impact human desire and need.

The characters in Farragut's past are as colorful and entertaining as the odd crowd he meets behind bars giving us the impression that not all nuts are locked up behind bars. Prison is depicted here as a community of sorts with its own norms, values, and power structure. We don't get a contemporary vision of prison from this novel, which would include racial and ethnic warfare, man on man rape, and violence.
Cheever is masterful in his narrative flow which allows us to gradually glimpse into the mind and memory of Farragut and understand his mother, father, older brother, wife, and son. These relationships, sometimes fulfilling and sometimes barren, have helped create the man. We gradually understand Farragut but Cheever never tries to make us like Farragut or take his side against the world. The book is so well written that I flew through it in 6 hours, enjoying the work of a modern literary master.

This internal exploration by John Cheever into regret, battered hope, and the nature of human interaction in the crucible of prison is executed with a rare combination of precision and primal emotional instinct. Farragutt has been convicted of killing his brother, but it would seem that the crime for which he is really imprisoned is the crime of looking too closely at what life truly means to him, and finding evidence for nothing but retreat. Cheever chronicles a constant weather pattern of darkness over the landscape of a good soul.

At the April 2008 meeting of the NYC LGBT Center Book Discussion Group, we discussed "Falconer" by John Cheever. This was a very popular book. We had a very nice sized group who universally liked or very much liked it.

We talked about John Cheever's secret bisexuality, his addictions, his teaching in prison, and life in the early 70's for closeted men, when this book takes place. We thought his fellow prisoners were well drawn and that his family and wife were a mess. During the discussion, we considered the possibility that some of the more florid writing and perhaps even an event or two were drug-induced (or withdrawal induced) or merely imagined.

If we had any complaint, it was that Cheever is a great short story writer and this novel, especially the last surprising chapter (I'm not going to give it away - just in case someone hasn't read it yet), might have been a little longer. The theme of the novel is redemption, which may be expected in a prison novel, but had some surprising ways of expressing it in "Falconer."

Dismally imprisoned in Falconer at 48 years of age, Farragut is introduced to the readers. We immediately learn that he is a man who murdered his brother, and then the book explains what he does day to day inside the walls of Falconer.

Written in the 1970's, Farragut excuses his fratricide on that decade's greatest evil - drugs. And, the drug that overpowers him is the worst drug of that era - heroin. Hooked or addicted, and strung out like the other junkies of that era, he cannot remember much. He thinks he hit his brother once, and then his brother fell and died. We learn that he did not beat his brother a single time with the fireplace's poker stick, but that it was more like 20 times.

After living a life of certain privilege, Farragut's later half of his life is to become a horror - methadone induced drudgery.

Cheever, who is known for short stories, has various inmates come to Farragut and tell him their reason for being there; or how they had a homosexual love; or how they acknowledge what he did and how they may have done something similar. In effect, these great and personal short stories cluster together to make a short novel - which Cheever calls Falconer.

Occasionally, good things happen in the novel. And, the prison guard (Tiny), who befriends the inmates and has a strong but relaxed hand in controlling the prison population, makes the place more hospitable - unlike the greedy and headstrong warden.

Farragut survives this transcending time of his life amazingly well. In this world similar to HBO's "Oz", Falconer could easily rot most any character. For Farragut, it appears the opposite occurs. He ages, his hair turns white within one year, but his spirit seems to grow stronger as the days progress. Much to his own astonishment, he becomes a better or stronger person by being caged like an animal.

The ending is a surprise - so I cannot ruin it for others. But, I can say that the ending of this book is great. You hope that something like this would happen. And, it thankfully does.