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Bright's Passage: A Novel, by Josh Ritter
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NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Henry Bright has newly returned to West Virginia from the battlefields of the First World War. Griefstruck by the death of his young wife and unsure of how to care for the infant son she left behind, Bright is soon confronted by the destruction of the only home he’s ever known. His hopes for safety rest with the angel who has followed him to Appalachia from the trenches of France and who now promises to protect him and his son. Haunted by the abiding nightmare of his experiences in the war and shadowed by his dead wife’s father, the Colonel, and his two brutal sons, Bright—along with his newborn—makes his way through a ravaged landscape toward an uncertain salvation.
DON’T MISS THE EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOSH RITTER AND NEIL GAIMAN IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK.
Look for special features inside.
Join the Circle for author chats and more.
RandomHouseReadersCircle.com
- Sales Rank: #576650 in Books
- Published on: 2012-05-15
- Released on: 2012-05-15
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.01" h x .48" w x 5.26" l, .42 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 210 pages
Amazon.com Review
A Letter from Author Josh Ritter © Marcelo Biglia The central premise of Bright’s Passage is that an angel has followed young Henry Bright home from the senseless carnage of the First World War. The book follows Bright during three significant periods in his life, braiding the scenes together finally to portray a young man attempting to meet the greatest challenge of his life: returning home. The angel, perhaps a capricious refugee from the painted ceiling of a shelled French church, perhaps the dream-like manifestation of Henry Bright’s own shell-shocked mind, nevertheless takes up residence in Henry’s horse, and it is through their time with one another and the journey they take together that Bright attempts to find peace, not simply for himself, but if the angel is correct, for the entire world. War always brims with bloody inscrutability, but the First World War mated the ferocious absurdity of human nature with unprecedented leaps of technological capability to birth a new and monstrous kind of world-striding warfare that for the first time in history seemed capable of wiping away whole civilizations. It was this conflict--the seeming ability of man to spin the world and yet just as easily be spun by it--that drew me to the time period surrounding the First World War, and that gave me my first glimpse of Henry Bright, a man caught up in a whirlwind he is unable to understand or control. Though continuously pestered by the angel, upon returning home to West Virginia Henry attempts to put the abattoir of his time in France behind him by marrying his childhood friend Rachel and having a baby with her. When Rachel dies in childbirth however, Henry finds himself beset by new and present vagaries even as he attempts to understand the ones he has already come through. A wildfire, Rachel’s vengeful family, and his struggle to protect his newborn son from both now drive Henry Bright, his horse, his goat and his tiny infant into the wilderness in a desperate attempt to finally find peace. Ultimately, Bright’s Passage is about a man who has come home from war only to suspect that perhaps he has not yet returned from it.
Review
“Shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime . . . This is the work of a gifted novelist.”—Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review
“[An] eloquent and intensely moving historical novel . . . a work of masterful, stunning prose.”—Oprah.com
“Displays Ritter’s abundant lyrical gifts . . . Rich in metaphor and surprising moments of humor . . . a dark parable in the southern Gothic tradition of Cormac McCarthy.”—The Boston Globe
“Intensely beautiful, tragic and also funny . . . a rich, beautiful story with shape: Bright’s Passage has a powerful end.”—Los Angeles Times
“A charming, sweet and highly readable novel . . . [Ritter’s] imagery is bold, tantalizing.”—Associated Press
“Propelled by short chapters that read like powerful vignettes, all of which lead to a final confrontation as haunting as any ballad Ritter could have written.”—San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
Josh Ritter is a songwriter from Moscow, Idaho. His albums include The Animal Years and So Runs the World Away. Bright’s Passage is his first novel. He lives in New York.
From the Hardcover edition.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A different, strange novel.
By Kate
Another reviewer said that they were about halfway through the book before they really cared what happened. I sort of had a similar feeling. For the first few chapters I was asking myself "What is this? Why am I reading this? Where is this going?" And sometimes those are great things to be asking while you're reading. But in this case, I don't think it was necessarily a good thing. I thought that I had perhaps made a mistake in purchasing the book (which, of course, I did only because I'm a fan of Josh Ritter's music and I think his song writing skills are incredible.)
But somewhere over half of the way through, I suddenly realized that I had been fully sucked in. (I couldn't say where. I think it happened gradually.) The writing itself was interesting, beautiful, and thought-provoking in a way. The story, at some point, became captivating and certainly made me think.
At the end of the book, it had an interview with Josh Ritter and the interviewer commented on how one of his favorite things about Ritter's songwriting was that he had a way of allowing an audience to fill in their own story to the bits of a story that he provides in the song. The interviewer said that he didn't think that Ritter would be able to apply that trait of his writing/story telling to a novel, but that he somehow did. I really agree with that. The story isn't really open ended, but it lets you, as a reader, really add what you want to it (and not just in general things like the meaning/interpretation of the angel) in a way that makes it more enjoyable to experience.
Perhaps in that same interview, I also read a comment on Ritter's ability to observe and report on little details that make for really great, interesting moments in a story. I too noticed this all through out reading the book. He manages to add these little details that really bring you into what he is describing, but not to the point that you get bored.
It was also interesting to read that he spent a lot of time pouring through first-hand accounts of the war from other people and that a lot of these moments came from those books/stories/letters etc. With this book (and these little details that he provides) it's almost like Ritter serves as a translator to bring us these interesting (and often times disturbing) moments if we don't care to pour through all those accounts of WWI ourselves.
In particular I remember this passage: "They entered the War like men stepping out from beneath an awning into a torrential thunderstorm. The first man that Bright saw die fell back down into the very trench from which he'd just climbed. His uniform was still fresh and the tops of his boots had been shined. Only the soles looked muddy."
The book is full of little paragraphs like that - mentioned almost in passing, but hard to shake and very meaningful.
I initially gave this book a three. I had read it very quickly and I guess still had that lingering feeling of not being too sure about it in the beginning. After a couple days of not being able to stop thinking about it, I realized that I had to bump it up to at least a four. I really liked it and can't wait for his next novel.
It's an odd mix of realism/historical fiction and fantastical fable or folk tale, but for me that really worked.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
“The cruelty I’ve seen is beyond my understanding”
By B. Wilfong
“Bright’s Passage” is a short, quick read of a novel that at times is so lyrical you can hear the music underscoring it. That is no surprise since its author is Josh Ritter a singer/songwriter whose work I have a fleeting familiarity with. However, the novel has a strength in being written by a songwriter as there are numerous times in the text when there are lines that are packed with layers of meaning, like the best poetry.
The novel takes place in West Virginia immediately following WW I, and it is structured so that the chapters alternate between the present moment and two distinct past events. In this manner the gaps and unexplained elements of the “present tense” chapters are slowly explained and filled in. It is an effective device, complimented by the short chapters which keep the writing and pace of the novel fluid and quick.
Without giving too much away I will say that as a writer Ritter is quite talented, as a person who develops plots that propel the reader along, not so much. What kept me the most engaged, besides the writing style, was the ambiguous nature of the text. It is hard to categorize and it can easily be placed in a few different genres, depending on your interpretation. That ambiguity is a joy of the book.
“Bright’s Passage” is a text that holds up under scrutiny and I think it would be an excellent choice for book clubs as it touches upon a lot of good topics of discussion. All told I’m not dying for another novel by Mr. Ritter, but I would certainly not ignore it if he produced another.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
This is a song that went on waay too long...
By Mojo_green
My friends and family know me as one of the most die-hard Josh Ritter fans around. Honestly, I was beyond thrilled when I heard he was writing a book. I expected to love it, hands down.
Josh's writing style is excellent. His thematic ideas, his similes and metaphors-- this book can be breathtaking in places (read just the first chapter, and you'll see...) However, my problem is when you stand back and take a look at the book and the plot as a whole, it is utterly ridiculous. I understand that Ritter is trying to create some kind of fable here- a story that the old folk in the mountains of Appalachia passed down orally from one generation to the next. I see that as what he was shooting for. But when you pair that with his flare for the stylistic, it doesn't work. There are no erudite fairy tales.
Honestly, I think he can write something compelling. He could be Phillip Roth if he takes a deep breath, stands back, and takes some time with his next book. Choose a realistic plot, and find the magic in the mundane, in the everyday 'spaces between' people and things.
This book, Bright's Passage, probably would have been another 5-star Josh Ritter SONG, but as books go, it gets a regrettable 'skip it' from this Josh Ritter devotee.
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