Taft is the story of John Nickel, a black ex-musician who wanted nothing more than to be a good father. But his son is taken away from him and he is left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. When he hires a young white waitress named Fay Taft, he doesn't know that he is taking on her desperate brother, Carl, as well. Nickel's sympathies for these two quickly become a dangerous path into the lives of strangers.
As the ominous events of the story unfold, Nickel is consumed with the idea of Taft, Fay and Carl's dead father. Through imagination, he begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. Through Taft, he begins to define the priorities of his own life.
The voice of John Nickel is a stunning artistic achievement. The story it tells is universal in its appeal to our instincts to protect the people we love. Taft confirms Ann Patchett's standing as one of the most gifted writers of her generation.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Publisher:
"As resonant as a blues song . . . Expect miracles when you read Ann Patchett's fiction."
--The New York Times Book Review
"A MOVING EMBLEM OF FATHERHOOD'S RARELY EXPLORED PASSION."
--Los Angeles Times
"Patchett writes with remarkable conviction and attention to telling detail... [She] is excellent at portraying the steady love and interest that holds the family members together, even though that love and interest isn't always successful in preserving the members from danger."
--Jane Smiley
"Absorbing . . . Strikingly original."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Taft is a moving, dangerous book about love and despair and hope. Ann Patchett gives us fantastic yet believable characters that will stay alive long after the last page is turned. She is a wonderful, intelligent writer."
--James Welch
"In her picture of Nickel, Patchett combines a rare sensitivity to issues of race with the unswerving knowledge that deeper than skin color is the essential soul of a good man who wants to repair the damage he has done."
--The New Orleans Times-Picayune
"Compassionate and deeply moving."
--Booklist
From the Inside Flap:
is a black ex-jazz musician who only wants to be a good father. But when his son is taken away from him, he's left with nothing but the Memphis bar he manages. Then he hires Fay, a young white waitress, who has a volatile brother named Carl in tow. Nickel finds himself consumed with the idea of Taft, Fay and Carl's dead father, and begins to reconstruct the life of a man he never met. But his sympathies for these lost souls soon take him down a twisting path into the lives of strangers. . . .
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherHoughton Mifflin Harcourt
- Publication date1994
- ISBN 10 0395694612
- ISBN 13 9780395694619
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages305
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Rating