New Book Time? New Book Time.

Edisto by Padgett Powell

1985.
Nominated for American Book Award (Best Debut).
Powell runs the MFA program at U of Florida.
192 pages.

"Southern" and "coming of age."
And "kinda experimental."

The Believer interviewed him one time.
Which is how I heard of him.
(I've not read this book.)

I begin discussions on February 1st.
Lost starts back up on the 2nd.
We discuss till the 10th.
Courtney announces the next book whenever she feels like.

Bring a dictionary, if the first few pages are any indication.

Walker Percy: "A novel that has drawn comparisons with the work of J. D. Salinger, Truman Capote, and Flannery OConnor, Edisto centers on one Simons Everson Manigault, a twelve-year-old possessed of a vocabulary and sophistication way beyond his years and a preadolescent bewilderment with the behavior of adults. These include his mother, who is known as the Duchess, and his enigmatic father-surrogate, Taurus. Imbued with a strong sense of place, an isolated strip of South Carolina coast called Edisto, Padgett Powell's novel is truly remarkable . . . both as a narrative and in its extraordinary use of language."