Gayl Jones

Broschiertes Buch

The Unicorn Woman

The Pulitzer Prize Finalist for 2025

Beschreibung

This extraordinary new novel from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Gayl Jones follows the witty but perplexing army veteran Buddy Ray Guy as he embodies the fate of Black soldiers who return, not to glory, but to their Jim Crow communities. A cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because he's a wise guy. But underneath that surface, he is a true self-educated intellectual and a classic seeker: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love. His odyssey takes him not only from his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky to Memphis, Tennessee, but back into his own memories, as he recalls his love affairs in post-war France and his encounters with a dazzling array of almost mythical characters: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists, bigots, and - most unforgettably - the Unicorn Woman herself. With her inimitable eye for beauty, tragedy and humour, Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of the Black imagination in a time and place of frustration, disappointment, and spiritual hope.

Autor

Gayl Jones

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Little, Brown
• Erscheinungstermin: 20. August 2024
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 211mm x 137mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 200g
• ISBN-13: 9780349016924
• ISBN-10: 0349016925
• Artikelnr.: 63084664

Rezensionen

"Jones is, without a doubt, one of the most influential Black writers of the 20th and 21st centuries...The Unicorn Woman is smart, and immaculately constructed..."
The New York Times

Her latest novel [The Unicorn Woman], infused with wordplay and humor, reveals her to be one of our greatest living authors.
Lauren LeBlanc, The Boston Globe

Through Buddy s picaresque journey, Gayl Jones shows her mastery of both dialogue and interiority. There is a bare minimum of scene-setting and little indication of actions such as standing, sitting or leaving a room. Instead we find encounter after encounter with richly individuated characters, each sporting his or her own verbal

idiosyncrasies, as noted by a well-read travelling man with an acute ear for speech patterns, just like his creator.
Suzi Feay, The Times Literary Supplement

In The Unicorn Woman, Gayl Jones presents a powerful portrait of post-war Black American life, blending history, mythology, and deep personal introspection.
New York Amsterdam News

The novel s biggest asset is its strong narrative voice. The reader is pulled into Buddy s psyche as it drifts seamlessly through childhood memories, wartime recollections, and vivid dreams. . . . Jones s novel deftly captures the disaffectedness of returning to a home that does not feel like home.
Southern Review of Books

A surprising, welcome gift from one of America s finest and least predictable writers.
Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Jones s rich characterizations and wit are on display.
Publishers Weekly

Jones is skilled at balancing the observational with the intimate, and in Buddy we are given a fully realized character who epitomizes the frustrations, heartbreak, and humor of a generation of Black Americans.
Booklist