Independence Day (Ford novel)
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 First edition cover | |
| Author | Richard Ford |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | June 13, 1995 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 464 pp |
| ISBN | 0-679-49265-8 |
| OCLC | 31901250 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3556.O713 I53 1995 |
| Preceded by | The Sportswriter |
| Followed by | The Lay of the Land |
Independence Day is a 1995 novel by Richard Ford and the sequel to Ford's 1986 novel The Sportswriter. This novel is the second in what is now a four-part series. It was followed by The Lay of the Land (2006) and Let Me Be Frank With You (2014).[1]
Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1996, becoming the first novel ever to win both awards in a single year.
The novel follows Frank Bascombe, a New Jersey real estate agent (and ex-sportwriter), through the titular holiday weekend as he visits his ex-wife, his troubled son, his current lover, the tenants of one of his properties, and some clients of his who have been having trouble finding the perfect house. It focuses in particular on a car trip with his son to the Basketball and Baseball halls of fame. It was well-reviewed, with Michiko Kakutani writing in The New York Times that "Mr. Ford has galvanized his reputation as one of his generation's most eloquent voices."[2] Similar in form and common themes to John Updike's Rabbit novels, Independence Day is a pastoral meditation on a man reaching middle age and assessing his place in life and the greater world.
References
- ^ "Frank and me: Richard Ford on his Bascombe novels". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ^ The New York Times, 13 June 1995.
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