TLC Blog Tour&Review: Northwest Corner by John Burnham Schwartz

Title:Northwest Corner
Author:John Burnham Schwartz
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: July 26,2011
Pages:304
Source: the publisher for TLC Book Tour (My FTC Disclaimer)
Purchase: Barnes and Noble, Amazon

Synopsis:
The New York Times Book Review called Reservation Road “a triumph,” and the novel was universally acclaimed. Now, in a brilliant literary performance by one of our most compelling and compassionate writers, John Burnham Schwartz reintroduces us to Reservation Road’s unforgettable characters in a superb new work of fiction that stands magnificently on its own. Northwest Corner is a riveting story about the complex, fierce, ultimately inspiring resilience of families in the face of life’s most difficult and unexpected challenges.

Twelve years after a tragic accident and a cover-up that led to prison time, Dwight Arno, now fifty, is a man who has started over without exactly moving on. Living alone in California, haunted yet keeping his head down, Dwight manages a sporting goods store and dates a woman to whom he hasn’t revealed the truth about his past. Then an unexpected arrival throws his carefully neutralized life into turmoil and exposes all that he’s hidden.

Sam, Dwight’s estranged college-age son, has shown up without warning, fleeing a devastating incident in his own life. In its way, Sam’s sense of guilt is as crushing as his father’s. As the two men are forced to confront their similar natures and their half-buried hopes for connection, they must also search for redemption and love. In turn, they dramatically transform the lives of the women around them: the ex-wives, mothers, and lovers they have turned to in their desperate attempts to somehow rewrite, outrun, or eradicate the past.

Told in the resonant voices of everyday people gripped in the emotional riptide of lived life, Northwest Corner is at once tough and heart-lifting, an urgent, powerful story about family bonds that can never be broken and the wayward roads that lead us back to those we love.

Author Bio:
John Burnham Schwartz is the author of the acclaimed novels The Commoner,Claire Marvel, Bicycle Days, andReservation Road, which was made into a motion picture based on his screenplay. His new novel, Northwest Corner, will be published on July 26, 2011. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages and his writing has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. A past winner of the Lyndhurst Foundation Award for mastery in the art of fiction, Schwartz is also an accomplished screenwriter, having written films for Focus Features, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate. He has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Harvard University, and Sarah Lawrence College, and is currently Literary Director of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Aleksandra Crapanzano, and their son, Garrick.

Learn more about John’s work at his website, johnburnhamschwartz.com, and onFacebook

My Review:
I’m not sure what to think about this book. I liked it because I really enjoyed the characters and the writing style. The characters are complex and the writing style is detailed and unique. However, I didn’t realize that this was a sequel to Reservation Road. I found myself  wishing now, that I had read Reservation Road, too. But, that being said, I really did enjoy this book.

Northwest Corner is complexity at it’s best. Schwartz really drew me into the story almost instantly. Once I was in, there was no turning back for me. It’s filled with emotional turmoil and trying to over come past mistakes. Dwight and Sam’s characters were so real and life like to me, I could picture them right next to me. So amazing, to feel the story come to life.

If you are looking for a book that is a bit more emotional and not such a light read, I highly suggest you get a copy of this 5 star book. You won’t be disappointed. I am looking forward to going back and reading Reservation Road and hoping that I get swept away as I did with this novel.