Isaac and His Devils [Paperback]

Fernanda Eberstadt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1992

One of America's most acclaimed young writers offers this "truly impressive novel" (New York Times) of the complex relationship between a father and his brilliant son. "A work of irresistible exuberance. . . . A many-layered success".--New York Newsday.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Confirming the promise of her first novel, Low Tide , Eberstadt tells a captivating tale. The ongoing struggles of the eponymous Isaac's devils within his large and awkward body produce gale forces--and a rollicking read. We meet Isaac Hooker at various moments throughout the stormy two decades of his life in a rural New Hampshire town. First as the insatiably curious and ungainly child of Sam, a would-be professor who instead teaches at the local high school, and Mattie, a slovenly and energetic power; then as the often cruel older brother of the order-loving Turner; as the brilliant but extremely difficult high school student who has read more than his teachers (and lets them know it); as the Harvard dropout who lives with his former math teacher, Agnes Urquhart, in an isolated cabin; and finally, as the neglectful son who falls apart after his father's death. Isaac is a child hell-bent on knowing everything, to the annoyance of his mother and the adoration of his father. In her sensitive account of Isaac's desperate search for truth and meaning and his wary circling of his father's failure, Eberstadt not only shows us the life of one young eccentric, but also paints portraits of small-town existence and the universal truths and pains of parental relationships. In an often dense and sometimes slow--but redeemingly clear-eyed--narrative, Eberhardt's characters are passionately conceived and rich with life.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Isaac Hooker, a very large, physically imperfect genius, is the offspring of schoolteacher Sam, of good family and faded dreams, and Mattie, rough, vibrant, and ambitious. The oddly matched parents live a hardscrabble life in New England, raising Isaac and younger brother Turner. When adolescent Isaac displays unusual scholastic prowess, his spinster math teacher prods him to apply to Harvard, then falls in love with him when he leaves. A memorable, brilliant, but tormented hero, reminiscent of John Kennedy Toole's Ignatius Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces , Isaac agonizes and bumbles his way to manhood. This is a rich novel, full of promise for the author's future (she is a granddaughter of Ogden Nash). For most fiction collections.
- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 337 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (July 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446394130
• ISBN-13: 978-0446394130
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,446,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite brilliant, August 14, 1998

By 

[e-mail] Vincent Webster (San Fran Freakshow) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Isaac and His Devils (Paperback)

To say the novel is about a father's lack of tenacity to pursue his dream in life is a bit simplistic to my thinking. Eberstadt, a brilliant talent with keen and broad intellect scope, creates a small range of characters; Sam & Mattie and their sons Issac and Taylor around which to present what truly is an astounding mental prowess; her own. Eberstadt, like Melville, manages to provide insight into thousands of prismatic subjects along the way: the light of her tortured soul just will not go out. Isaac, overweight, over-educated and unhappy, reminded me in some ways of Ignatius Reilly, of O'Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. (The misunderstood genius in love with a chivalrous past stuck in 20th century redneck America; be it New Orleans or as in this case, Vermont). However, it is Eberstadt that is so compelling; Eberstadt the omniscient narrator, weaver of incredibly perceptive description, psychological insight and above all derisive wit gone mad. The book is to say the least intellectually stimulating even if the actual story is not in itself frightfully compelling, a boy-genius falling in love with an spinster teacher. It is the telling of the tale itself and all the author's breadth and depth makes it a must read. I really liked this book and can't wait to read Low Tide. If the author reads this review; please, please autograph my tome!!!