Prudence, David Treuer
Prudence, David Treuer
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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Prudence

Author: David Treuer

Narrator: Chris Patton

Unabridged: 7 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/05/2015

Synopsis

From a rising Native American writer comes a haunting and unforgettable novel about love, loss, race, and desire in World War II–era AmericaOn a sweltering day in August 1942, Frankie Washburn returns to his family's rustic Minnesota resort for one last visit before he joins the war as a bombardier headed for the darkened skies over Europe. Awaiting him at the Pines are those he's about to leave behind: his hovering mother, the distant father to whom he's been a disappointment, the Indian caretaker who's been more of a father to him than his own, and Billy, the childhood friend who over the years has become something much more intimate. But before the homecoming can be celebrated, the search for a German soldier who has escaped from the POW camp across the river explodes in a shocking act of violence, with consequences that will reverberate years into the future for all of them and that will shape how each of them makes sense of their lives.With Prudence, Treuer delivers his most ambitious and captivating novel yet. Powerful and wholly original, it's a story of desire and loss and the search for connection in a riven world; of race and class in a supposedly more innocent era. Most profoundly, it's about the secrets we choose to keep, the ones we can't help but tell, and who—and how—we're allowed to love.

About David Treuer

David Treuer is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. He is the award-winning author of several works of fiction and nonfiction. His acclaimed The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee was a New York Times bestseller, and his work The Translation of Dr Apelles was named a 2006 best book of the year by the Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Time Out Chicago, and City Pages. He has won the Pushcart Prize and the Minnesota Book Award. He has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Slate, and the Washington Post, among others. He has a PhD degree in anthropology and teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California.

About Chris Patton

Chris Patton has narrated over seventy-five audiobooks. His voice can be heard narrating such titles as Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the dystopian juggernaut Yesterday’s Gone, Clive Barker’s Books of Blood series, and two titles by Joyce Carol Oates. Chris began his career in theater at age ten, and his voice-over career at twenty-nine. Since then, he has voiced over two hundred anime titles, numerous commercials and e-learning and industrial projects, and several video games. He’s also fronted a synthpop band called Paul Lynde Is Dead, written a teen urban fantasy about an emo vampire called Scene Immortal, and has appeared as a special guest at more than eighty-five pop-culture conventions.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lark on December 23, 2018

I came back to this novel for a second read after reading and being some-kind-of-overwhelmed by Treuer's book of literary criticism, Native American Criticism: A User's Guide. There are only a few other novelists I can think of where their literary criticism so strongly affects how I receive their......more

Goodreads review by aPriL does feral sometimes on March 08, 2015

So, I was listening to NPR. Their critic really liked ‘Prudence: A Novel’. Then, I googled the book and I discovered Washington Post, LA Times, etc. have all reviewed this book. Their literary critics were impressed by it and wrote positive reviews. Excellent. I fired up my ‘Overdrive’ app, logged o......more

Goodreads review by Larry on January 18, 2015

A book can make a difference in dispelling prejudice through stories authors create that make us imagine the lives of others. A good story lets you discover people as individuals in all their peculiarity and conflict; and once you see someone as a person—flawed, complex, striving—you’ve reached beyo......more

Quotes

“A wondrous and mesmerizing narrative—intricate, seductive, and wholly gratifying.” Toni Morrison, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Treuer’s elegantly bitter fourth novel…expertly vivisects characters who can’t own up to the truth about themselves, showing how the unaddressed damage only deepens over time.” New York Times Book Review

“His World War II-era novel speaks to the present moment in American history with more eloquence and complexity than the nightly newscast.” Washington Post

“Treuer’s experience writing about Native American history and culture is apparent in this analysis of race and memory.” Huffington Post

“Combines elements of a mystery, a literary romance, and a Greek tragedy.” Chicago Tribune

“This gorgeously restrained novel has much to say about race, class, gender, sexuality, love, and war.” More

“Chris Patton narrates this rich character study…Patton imparts Frankie’s enthusiasm, which is undermined by his unacceptable love for his boyhood friend. Felix, the Indian caretaker, is portrayed by Patton with the character’s stalwart tranquility, which conceals his fatherly love for Frankie and heartbreak at his loss of family and traditions.” AudioFile

“A beautiful, somber, unlikely love story.” Edmund White, National Book Critics Circle award–winning author 

“Prudence is an excellent, page-turning mystery and at the same time delves deeply into characters whose lives are rarely portrayed in our literature.” Dan Chaon, author of Among the Missing

Treuer’s trenchant and compassionate novel glimmers with nature’s potent beauty, fresh historical detail, and scrupulous insight.” Booklist (starred review)

Awards

  • BookPage Book of the Day
  • Carnegie Medal for Literature
  • PopSugar Best Books
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