The Vast Fields of Ordinary
Nick Burd - Author
ISBN 9780803733404 | 320 pages | 14 May 2009 | Dial | 9.25 x 6.25in | 14 - AND UP years
Summary of The Vast Fields of Ordinary
Summary of The Vast Fields of Ordinary
Reviews for The Vast Fields of Ordinary
An Excerpt from The Vast Fields of Ordinary
|
It's Dade's last summer at home. He has a crappy job at Food World, a "boyfriend" who won't publicly acknowledge his existence (maybe because Pablo also has a girlfriend), and parents on the verge of a divorce. College is Dade's shining beacon of possibility, a horizon to keep him from floating away.
"Burd...takes a familiar plot and makes it fresh...an author to watch." -Publishers WeeklyThen he meets the mysterious Alex Kincaid. Falling in real love finally lets Dade come out of the closet - and, ironically, ignites a ruthless passion in Pablo. But just when true happiness has set in, tragedy shatters the dreamy curtain of summer, and Dade will use every ounce of strength he's gained to break from his past and start fresh with the future. "A fascinating and dreamy first novel." -New York Times "...a refreshingly honest, sometimes funny, and often tender novel." --School Library Journal, starred review "Burd breathes new life into the old coming-out formula...One of the best in a new generation of LGBTQ novels, it can stand alongside Peter Cameron's and Brian Sloan's." --Kirkus, starred review "Nick Burd's The Vast Fields of Ordinary is bold. Engaging. Heartbreaking. A book worthy of attention." -Ellen Hopkins "The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a wonderfully engaging and satisfying book about all kinds of growing: growing up, growing together, growing apart. Dade Hamilton and his family and friends (and enemies) are all vividly and complexly imagined and realized, and I loved spending time with them. Nick Burd's extremely accomplished and beautifully detailed prose reanimates the usually moribund American suburban wasteland; like an alchemist, he finds the wonder in the ordinary." -Peter Cameron, author of SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU "Nick Burd's debut novel unfolds like the summer vacation it chronicles: in the beginning the vista seems limitless, but as the pages turn and the days pass the plot thickens and the end comes way before you're ready to put it down. This is a mysterious, funny, wise, generous story, and its main character is someone you need to know, and you'll never forget." -Dale Peck, author of MARTING & JOHN and SPROUT "Who can resist a kid who survives his senior year of high school despite having been given the nickname 'Vagisil'? Not I... Dade Hamilton's coming-of-age tale with a Midwest twist is devastatingly real - but it's also funny, touching, and ultimately quite hopeful."-T Cooper, author of LIPSHITZ SIX, OR TWO ANGRY BLONDES "A brilliant account of alienation and angst in the heartland." -Quest magazine |
Sign Up
 |
|
|
To keep up-to-date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication
Please alert me via email when:
