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A novel
by Lee Cole
Book Reviewed by:An indelible love story about two very different people navigating the entanglements of class and identity and coming of age in an America coming apart at the seams - this is "an extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations" (Ann Patchett, best-selling author of The Dutch House).
In the run-up to the 2016 election, Owen Callahan, an aspiring writer, moves back to Kentucky to live with his Trump-supporting uncle and grandfather. Eager to clean up his act after wasting time and potential in his early twenties, he takes a job as a groundskeeper at a small local college, in exchange for which he is permitted to take a writing course.
Here he meets Alma Hazdic, a writer in residence who seems to have everything that Owen lacks—a prestigious position, an Ivy League education, success as a writer. They begin a secret relationship, and as they grow closer, Alma—who comes from a liberal family of Bosnian immigrants—struggles to understand Owen's fraught relationship with family and home.
Exquisitely written; expertly crafted; dazzling in its precision, restraint, and depth of feeling, Groundskeeping is a novel of haunting power and grace from a prodigiously gifted young writer.
Groundskeeping has so much going for it: three-dimensional characters, vivid scenes ripe for the Netflix treatment, timely themes of class and political divisions, and touching relationships, including a romance you'll care about. The title connotes standing one's ground, but also cultivating home and identity. Should you stay where you grew up, or try to make a life as an exile?..continued
Full Review
(729 words)
(Reviewed by Rebecca Foster).
In Lee Cole's Groundskeeping, the protagonist is offered a fellowship to take up the (fictional) Harry Crews Cottage writing residency in Florida, and his love interest is the writer-in-residence on their shared college campus in Kentucky. Writing residencies vary greatly in terms of what they entail. Some can be like a free working vacation, while some include duties such as teaching. Some involve monetary investment on the writer's part — and, if you're lucky, scholarship money to help. Travel may come with additional expenses to think about.
Some of the most prestigious residencies, like Yaddo, MacDowell and Millay Arts, are free (minus a small application fee or nonrefundable deposit), and thus are highly competitive. In ...
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Censorship, like charity, should begin at home: but unlike charity, it should end there.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
An extraordinary debut about the ties that bind families together and tear them apart across generations—this is a fierce, tender, and wholly unforgettable work from a hugely gifted writer.
