Wanderer Springs

by Robert Flynn Narrated by Joel Leffert

Overview

Award-winning author Robert Flynn delivers a witty and thought-provoking novel about a dying Texas town. When the new highway bypasses it, Wanderer Springs is left to wither in the dust. Will Callaghan, back home for a funeral, remembers the town's sometimes funny, sometimes painful past, including the time he cost his high school the football championship. Will's remembrances show that the present, however chaotic, is always linked to the past.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

When Jessie Tooley finally dies, Will Callaghan knows he has to go back for the funeral in Wanderer Springs, a tiny Texas town that was ``born beside the railroad and died beside the interstate,'' which passed around it. In this perfectly pitched, evocative novel, Flynn, author of the award-winning North to Yesterday, tells the story of one of those evanescent towns of the American interior that has a lifespan of ``three or at most four generations.'' There are no major events in the town's history, Will says, just families and relationships. You can't pick your friends or choose your neighbors, and your ancestors have already decided your enemies. Actually, it's not true that nothing major occurseverything that happens is important, because nothing is forgotten. The narrative's leisurely pace and diffusion (Flynn provides a key to the families that spawn the novel's 120 characters) could put off some readers, but most will find it genuinely rewarding.(September 8)

Library Journal

Fifth novel from the author of Seasonal Rain (Corona, 1986), this is Flynn's most accomplished work yet. It is an intricate, brutal, funny saga told by oral historian Will Callahan, who returns to his hometown to chronicle its rural past and urban present. Not a detached observer, Will painfully reveals the dark, sad past he shares with his neighbors as he imparts a strong sense of place and people. The story is rich in detail; the characterization, deft; the voice, an amalgam of Texan idiom, frequent hyperbole, and compassionate memory. Flynn's abundant talent transforms the annals of a dying town into an exploration of larger human concerns. Edward C. Lynskey, Documentation Section, Atlantic Research Corp., Gainsville, Va.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170878857
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	03/11/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

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