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The Wake of Forgiveness - Bruce Machart
The Wake of Forgiveness
by: (author)
4.38 65
On a moonless Texas night in 1895, an ambitious young landowner suffers the loss of “the only woman he’s ever been fond of” when his wife dies during childbirth with the couple’s fourth boy, Karel. From an early age Karel proves so talented on horseback that his father enlists him to ride in... show more
On a moonless Texas night in 1895, an ambitious young landowner suffers the loss of “the only woman he’s ever been fond of” when his wife dies during childbirth with the couple’s fourth boy, Karel. From an early age Karel proves so talented on horseback that his father enlists him to ride in acreage-staked horseraces against his neighbors. But Karel is forever haunted by thoughts of the mother he never knew, by the bloodshot blame in his father’s eyes, and permanently marked by the yoke he and his brothers are forced to wear to plow the family fields. Confident only in the saddle, Karel is certain that the horse “wants the whip the same way he wants his pop’s strap . . . the closest he ever gets to his father’s touch.” In the winter of 1910, Karel rides in the ultimate high-stakes race against a powerful Spanish patriarch and his alluring daughters. Hanging in the balance are his father’s fortune, his brother’s futures, and his own fate. Fourteen years later, with the stake of the race still driven hard between him and his brothers, Karel is finally forced to dress the wounds of his past and to salvage the tattered fabric of his family. Reminiscent of Kent Haruf’s portrayals of hope amidst human heartbreak and Cormac McCarthy’s finely hewn evocations of the American Southwest, Bruce Machart’s striking debut is as well wrought as it is riveting. It compels us to consider the inescapable connections between sons and their mothers, between landscape and family, and between remembrance and redemption.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN: 9780151014439 (0151014434)
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages no: 309
Edition language: English
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Community Reviews
cczarneckikernus
cczarneckikernus rated it
4.0 The Wake of Forgiveness
Not my usual kind of story... horses and cowboys in Texas in the early 20th century, but I couldn't put it down. I was transported by the lyrical writing of the author and I really enjoyed the flawed characters.
MEslaymaker
MEslaymaker rated it
Rather than repeat the much deserved accolades about how beautifully this book is crafted and written, I'll add that it seems to me that all the invoking of William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy misses the heart of this story, which strikes me as deeply feminine and feminist. It's a traditionally mal...
MEslaymaker
MEslaymaker rated it
Rather than repeat the much deserved accolades about how beautifully this book is crafted and written, I'll add that it seems to me that all the invoking of William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy misses the heart of this story, which strikes me as deeply feminine and feminist. It's a traditionally mal...
The Book Ends Reviews
The Book Ends Reviews rated it
4.0 The Wake of Forgiveness
The Wake of Forgiveness“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” Paul BoeseA fantastic debut novel, this begins in the late 1800's with the birth of Vaclav Skala fourth son, Karel, and the death of his loving wife Klara during childbirth. We then jump to 1910 where Vacl...
Thewanderingjew
Thewanderingjew rated it
5.0 The Wake of Forgiveness
This book is so well written that the words leap from the page and make you an active participant in the story, rather than a voyeur. Every page makes you think more deeply about each of the characters. They almost invite themselves to be examined. The story begins in the late 1800's and continues o...
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