Going to the Sun [Paperback]

James McManus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312423292 | ISBN-13: 978-0312423292 | Publication Date: March 1, 2004

Seven years ago, Penny's boyfriend was savagely attacked by a bear, setting off a chain of tragic events. Now, fighting a debilitating illness and haunted by her past, she finds herself incapable of emotional or sexual intimacy. As a way to break down the defenses she has built up in her safe Chicago life, she sets out on a cross-country bike tour. On this trip she meets Ndele, a beautiful, mysterious black man who challenges her to confront her ghosts and decide whether to put her past behind her and live or succumb to the terrible uncertainties that plague even her dreams.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beckett, bicycling, basketball, bears and blood sugar are among the diverse interests of this meditative road story told in the stunning voice of a diabetic, emotionally scarred young woman. At 29, Penny Culligan, a jazz-loving student of Irish literature, is writing her doctoral thesis as she bicycles from Chicago to Alaska to confront a past trauma. She's bicycling back to the place where her lover, David, was mauled by a grizzly. Haunted by the experience, by the fact that she honored David's request to help him die, as well as by the impending threats of her own disease, Penny has lived in cautious solitude for the past seven years. Now, on this somewhat hazardous trek with the oft-postponed thesis deadline looming, she takes stock of her life. Along the way, she meets the possibly dangerous Ndele Rimes, who claims to be an NBA basketball player but might, she fears, be lying. Poet (Great America) and novelist McManus (Out of the Blue; Chin Music) makes interesting use of Beckett, relating his obsession with physical decay to Penny's diabetes, but ultimately this novel, with its heartland highway vistas and constant motion, could not be more American. If the ending is a bit awkward or unsatisfying, it only underscores the paramount importance of journey over destination. Penny's narrative?by turns lyrical, pissed off and longing?is a triumph.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Penny is a thirtyish Beckett scholar with little hope of finishing her dissertation; she has a serious case of diabetes and a ghost from the past. It has been seven years since she mercifully injected her boyfriend, who was mauled by a bear in Alaska, with a fatal dose of her own insulin. Now she is cycling from Chicago to Alaska on a mission not even she fully comprehends. When she has an accident in North Dakota, a very tall, young black man claiming to be a basketball pro and driving a new Mercedes convertible without license plates offers to help. She accepts despite her fears. A complex friendship develops in a short time. But is he really what he claims to be? Can she make it to Alaska? Has her life itself become a Beckettian open question? McManus's (Curtains, Univ. of Chicago, 1985) unusual psychodrama may not be flawless, but it is engaging and challenging, and has a gripping conclusion somewhat reminiscent of the infamous sled ride in Ethan Frome. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
Jim Dwyer, California State Univ. Lib., Chico
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Picador (March 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312423292
• ISBN-13: 978-0312423292
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,855,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging tale of love, death and chronic illness, January 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Going to the Sun (Paperback)

This novel snaked its way around my heart, and its characters have been lingering in my head for days. I'm hesitant to start in on another book because I don't want the world of Penny, the Saint and Ndele to be edged out of my consciousness.

I'm curious to know what the author's personal experience with chronic illness is, because he has so perfectly captured what it feels like to inhabit a broken down body. The novel's protagonist, Penny, has a severe case of juvenile-onset diabetes. Living with a pervasive chronic illness is living with an ornery beast inside of you. Some days he leaves you alone and sleeps, but most of the time he's hungry and wants to devour your energy and spirit from the inside. You wrestle him, sometimes tame him, often ignore him as he gnaws on your leg--it's a chaotic cycle of confrontation and denial, victory and defeat.

Penny is so drawn into the struggle with her diabetes that she finds it difficult to establish a positive sense of self, to identify herself as anything but a failure. The illness feels like punishment, evidence of her unworthiness. This makes it difficult for her to connect with other people.

And then the first person she starts to connect with--a college boyfriend she calls the Saint--gets literally devoured by a beast, an Alaskan bear. For the next seven numb years, she stumbles around academia back in Chicago. She decides to embark on a summertime cross-country bike trek back to Alaska, both to escape and to confront. To escape the stultifying academic environment, an overbearing dissertation advisor and a way-overdue dissertation. And to confront her body's decay and her mind's obsession with how and why her boyfriend died.

The bulk of the novel chronicles her journey and the dialogue that runs through her head as the bike wheels tick off Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana... It's not a glamorized journey: cheesy motels, aggressive road-hogging trucks, dubious road conditions, and sweaty t-shirts abound. But along the way she learns that something as little as a pothole can change your life. And that healing comes not from a syringe, but from the power of connecting with another human being--the healing of human kindness, the healing of human touch.

What's amazing is that within this beautiful story, the author integrates provocative issues like racism and euthanasia seamlessly. They come up naturally, as part of the story, rather than stick out as "this-is-a-novel-of-the-90's" issues du jour.

As someone living with a beast of a chronic illness myself, I can testify that the author's treatment of illness is spot-on. The book will linger on my nightstand, and in my heart, for quite some time, as I reread passages and smile again at how a cranky protagonist not unlike myself finds what she needs in the unlikeliest of ways.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, May 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Going to the Sun (Paperback)

This book was "booktalked" at the WA Library Association meeting this year, so I got hold of it right away. What a beautifully written story. I can't believe someone would call it a "Judy Blume" book - gee, I don't see that at all. The fragile and yet resilient nature of Penny makes her very intriguing. James McManus has written a poetic, intelligent novel which shouldn't be missed.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book--quirky, compassionate, unexpected, September 4, 1999

By 

Laurie "vanegere" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going to the Sun (Paperback)

I've read this book twice now and have found it special both times--the language and the content both are unique. Each time, though, I've reread the ending over and over trying to ascertain what happens (maybe I just don't want to admit it). If someone would email me with their opinion (or certainty) as to what happens to Penny, I'd appreciate it.