Review
As a citizen, Nicholas Payne is not in the least solid. As a boyfriend, he is nothing short of disastrous, and his latest flame, the patrician Ann Fitzgerald, has done a wise thing by dropping him. But Ann isn't counting on Nicholas's wild persistence, or on the slapstick lyricism of Thomas McGuane, who in The Bushwhacked Piano sends his hero from Michigan to Montana on a demented mission of courtship whose highlights include a ride on a homicidal bronco and apprenticeship to the inventor of the world's first highrise for bats. The result is a tour de force of American Dubious.
"The work of a writer of the first magnitude. His sheer writing skill is nothing short of amazing. The preternatural force, grace, and self-control of his prose recall Faulkner.... McGuane is a virtuoso." -- Jonathan Yardley, The New York Times Book Review
"McGuane shares with Celine a genius for seeing the profuse, disparate materials of everyday life as a highly organized nightmare."
-- The New Yorker
"A novel of wisecracks and puns and ordinary objects invested with legendary potency."
-- Geoffrey Wolff, Newsweek
Review
As a citizen, Nicholas Payne is not in the least solid. As a boyfriend, he is nothing short of disastrous, and his latest flame, the patrician Ann Fitzgerald, has done a wise thing by dropping him. But Ann isn't counting on Nicholas's wild persistence, or on the slapstick lyricism of Thomas McGuane, who in The Bushwhacked Piano sends his hero from Michigan to Montana on a demented mission of courtship whose highlights include a ride on a homicidal bronco and apprenticeship to the inventor of the world's first highrise for bats. The result is a tour de force of American Dubious.
"The work of a writer of the first magnitude. His sheer writing skill is nothing short of amazing. The preternatural force, grace, and self-control of his prose recall Faulkner.... McGuane is a virtuoso." -- Jonathan Yardley, The New York Times Book Review
"McGuane shares with Celine a genius for seeing the profuse, disparate materials of everyday life as a highly organized nightmare."
-- The New Yorker
"A novel of wisecracks and puns and ordinary objects invested with legendary potency."
-- Geoffrey Wolff, Newsweek
Book Description
A heroic young man is in pursuit of a spoiled rich girl, a career, and a manageable portion of the American Dream.
From the Inside Flap
A heroic young man is in pursuit of a spoiled rich girl, a career, and a manageable portion of the American Dream.
About the Author
Thomas McGuane lives in Sweet Grass County, Montana. He is the author of eight previous novels and a collection of stories, as well as two collections of essays.
The Bushwacked Piano ANNOTATION
The story of a heroic young man in pursuit of a spoiled rich girl, a career, and a manageable portion of the American Dream.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
A heroic young man is in pursuit of a spoiled rich girl, a career, and a manageable portion of the American Dream.
FROM THE CRITICS
Geoffrey Wolff
A novel of wisecracks and objects invested with legendary potency.
-- Newsday
Yargley
The work of a writer of the first magnitude. His sheer writing skill is nothing short of amazing. The preternatural force, grace, and self-control recall Faulkner...McGuane is a virtuoso.
-- The New York Times Book Review
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
The Bushwacked Piano makes me think of all foremarks by those of an attenuated tandem bicycle, out of control, the wrong way on a one-way street, against the mainstream of oncoming traffic; no hands, and no brakes! Thomas McGuane can only be imitated. There is no one else around close enough for comparison. — William Hjortsberg
Art & Photography
Book Info
