A desolate valley peopled by criminals spurs the dreams of an architect set on rebuilding the valley, an artist who is inspired by the area, and a young boy trying to flee from it. 15,000 first printing. National ad/promo.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The severed head of a murdered businessman, sealed in a plastic bag, serves as a football for rowdy youths of "the valley." The valley, "on the far side of the city," is society's rubbish dump, home to roving gangs, bag ladies, illegal aliens, refugees from the city and a boy named Wilf who protects himself against life with the stick he carries everywhere. A haunting parable of evil and social disintegration, this debut novel by cultural critic/historian Conrad ( Where I Fell to Earth ) moves from murder to mayhem as Paul, a visionary architect bent on redesigning the valley, and his lover, Kate, a painter who defends the valley culture, involve themselves with Wilf in ways that will transform all of them. On one level, Conrad's dense fantasy is a critique of senseless, random violence and our willingness to tolerate a permanent underclass. On another level it's a meditation on art as a ransacking of reality, on modern architecture's utter irrelevance and the hazards of faith and love.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
A very strange first novel by an Oxford professor who has written travel and criticism. In the center of an unnamed English city lies a valley containing a marsh, a road, a tunnel, and, on the edges, shacks and a cave inhabited by criminals and the unwanted. When a severed head is discovered in this wasteland, the newspaper account fascinates Paul, an architect, and Kate, a painter. They head toward the valley, where they meet young Wilf, who had seen the dead man accompanied by Clem, a criminal. Paul, Kate, and Wilf roam through the valley, apparently with no purpose other than endless ruminations about life, death, evil, and so on. Not many people will want to finish reading this.
- Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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