Mr. Peanut
Jun 2010 · Sold by Vintage
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About this ebook
A New York Times Noteable Book • Mesmerizing, exhilarating, and profoundly moving, Mr. Peanut is a police procedural of the soul, a poignant investigation of the relentlessly mysterious human heart.
“A literary gymnast [and] a sorcerer with words…Dark, dazzling.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. After thirteen years of marriage, he still can’t imagine a remotely happy life without her—yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.
The detectives investigating Alice’s suspicious death have plenty of personal experience with conjugal enigmas: Ward Hastroll is happily married until his wife inexplicably becomes voluntarily and militantly bedridden; and Sam Sheppard is especially sensitive to the intricacies of marital guilt and innocence, having decades before been convicted and then exonerated of the brutal murder of his wife.
Like the Escher drawings that inspire the computer games David designs for a living, these complex, interlocking dramas are structurally and emotionally intense, subtle, and intriguing; they brilliantly explore the warring impulses of affection and hatred, and pose a host of arresting questions. Is it possible to know anyone fully, completely? Are murder and marriage two sides of the same coin, each endlessly recycling into the other? And what, in the end, is the truth about love?
“A literary gymnast [and] a sorcerer with words…Dark, dazzling.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. After thirteen years of marriage, he still can’t imagine a remotely happy life without her—yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.
The detectives investigating Alice’s suspicious death have plenty of personal experience with conjugal enigmas: Ward Hastroll is happily married until his wife inexplicably becomes voluntarily and militantly bedridden; and Sam Sheppard is especially sensitive to the intricacies of marital guilt and innocence, having decades before been convicted and then exonerated of the brutal murder of his wife.
Like the Escher drawings that inspire the computer games David designs for a living, these complex, interlocking dramas are structurally and emotionally intense, subtle, and intriguing; they brilliantly explore the warring impulses of affection and hatred, and pose a host of arresting questions. Is it possible to know anyone fully, completely? Are murder and marriage two sides of the same coin, each endlessly recycling into the other? And what, in the end, is the truth about love?
A New York Times Noteable Book • Mesmerizing, exhilarating, and profoundly moving, Mr. Peanut is a police procedural of the soul, a poignant investigation of the relentlessly mysterious human heart.
“A literary gymnast [and] a sorcerer with words…Dark, dazzling.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York ...
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4 reviews
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January 17, 2011
I've read the book twice now; once to be hit with the greatest impact, and another to understand the structure and technique of the writing. On first reading I was thrown for the loop the author intended. His characters were developed well over the course of the writing, to a great degree; Haskell being the best of them. I found the entire Sam Sheppard discourse and exploration to be wearisome. However, his discussion of marriage, relational frustration, and the reactionary nature of men in marriage was unequivocally the best I have ever read in fiction. I felt the pain immediately and was aching the whole way through. I believe this is what the author intended for the reader: agony. I appreciate that there is no happy ending, just like in real life. Women, if you want to know what is going on in your husband’s mind at certain times, this is the book to tell you. Not necessarily the violence, but the profound way men are hamstrung and strengthened by their marriages at the same time.
About the author
Adam Ross lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and their two daughters.
www.adam-ross.com
www.adam-ross.com
Adam Ross lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and their two daughters.
www.adam-ross.com
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