Pieces of Payne: A Novel [Paperback]

Albert Goldbarth (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

Albert Goldbarth is “a dazzling virtuoso who can break your heart” (Joyce Carol Oates)

How is Eliza’s divorce connected to the rise of twentieth-century quantum physics? Why does the steamy promise of “a key unlocking a door at a cheap motel along I-35” lead us to a consideration of Moby-Dick? What does one physician’s fake appointment book have to do with Columbus, werewolves, and Fanny Burney’s famously excruciating nineteenth-century mastectomy? Albert Goldbarth sets his story of love’s daily pleasures and griefs upon a foundation of ever-branching footnotes—from the strange worlds of supermarket tabloids and the Legion of Super-Heroes to more contemplative forays into gender politics, Dickens scholarship, and medical anomalies. By taking us on this mind-bending journey, he shows us how our lives are both confused and empowered by the multilayered universe around us.

Pieces of Payne is the first novel by Goldbarth, a two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first foray into fiction, prize-winning poet (Saving Lives) and essayist (Many Circles) Goldbarth offers a wide-ranging exploration of ideas, incorporating concepts and tidbits from science, references to the arts, snippets of history and a gallimaufry of contemporary news stories. Goldbarth himself, in his day-job role as a college professor, serves as narrator of the novel's first section, telling the story of his friend Eliza Phillips, a woman dealing with memories of her father, a surgeon who zealously performed mastectomies, and the circumstances of her difficult divorce. Early on, Eliza found mental equilibrium in the discoveries of astronomer Cecilia Payne, who identified "parts of the universe I could count on not to change unrecognizably...." Episodic and elliptical, this short opening section is intriguing, if deliberately lacking in coherence. The second, longer portion of the book, captioned "Notes," consists entirely of 50 footnotes to the first section. Here, Goldbarth begins to poke around in the banalities and truths of what he calls our "Ramada Inn and baconburger lives," trying to outline larger issues by examining quotes and events from the lives of Melville, Dickens, Jack London, Walt Whitman and other prominent literary figures. His theory, according to which the presence of a higher consciousness plays a significant role in the seemingly random events of daily life, is also supported by tidbits of bizarre contemporary news stories. There is humor aplenty in these often incredible slices of "reality." Riffing on the paradoxical tragedies and miracles of our civilization, Goldbarth has produced a thought-provoking book that offers the reader ample recompense for its challenging format.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Goldbarth, a whirling dervish of a poet, has fashioned a splendidly clever and tender first novel. Eliza, the daughter of an adulterous oncologist father, was inspired by a pioneering astronomer named Cecilia Payne and sought to emulate her. But Eliza gave up astronomy to teach grade-school science and is now drinking in a cheerfully raucous bar with her former professor and close friend, Albert, bringing him up to date on the surprising turn her love life has taken. Eliza is extremely amusing, and Albert is so gallantly attentive he relegates his witty ruminations on everything from Moby Dick to superhero Lightning Lad to a vital sequence of numbered "notes" that follow Eliza's unexpectedly bittersweet tale. This bifurcated structure is not only fun to navigate, it also embodies Goldbarth's evocative vision of the "dividedness" intrinsic to human nature: our multiple selves, double lives, and inconsistencies; the way bliss and tragedy are inextricably entwined. As Eliza and Albert share confidences, Goldbarth marshals his signature preoccupations with the dualities of science and science fiction, history and tabloids, art and comic books, love and marriage, and conducts a dazzling, sagacious, and poignant search for oneness within the many-faceted chaos of human life. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Graywolf Press; First Edition edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555973787
• ISBN-13: 978-1555973780
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, May 12, 2007

By 

Andy Wood (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pieces of Payne: A Novel (Paperback)

Albert Goldbarth is a gem of a writer. He's mostly a poet, and at times, that's very obvious in this novel. His use of language and imagery is bizarre at times, but always beautiful.

Pieces of Payne is an interestingly formed novel. It's full of tangents and footnotes... which creates a very different sort of reading experience.

If you love Goldbarth's poetry, I highly recommend this book. If you haven't had a taste of Goldbarth yet, I'd recommend starting with Budget Travel through Space and Time: Poems and then you can really appreciate the power of Pieces of Payne.