The volunteer: a novel
Author:
Publisher:
Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Publication Date:
2020
Language:
English
Description
"Thrilling… Scibona has built a masterpiece." – The New York Times Book Review
"All of it — all of it — is just so ridiculously beautiful." – Jason Sheehan, NPR.org
"The rewards are enormous. This is a spectacular work of fiction." – San Francisco Chronicle
A long-awaited new novel from a National Book Award Finalist, the epic story of a restless young man who is captured during the Vietnam War and pressed into service for a clandestine branch of the United States government
A small boy speaking an unknown language is abandoned by his father at an international airport, with only the clothes on his back and a handful of money jammed in the pocket of his coat. So begins The Volunteer. But in order to understand this heartbreaking and indefensible decision, the story must return to the moment, decades earlier, when a young man named Vollie Frade, almost on a whim, enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam. Breaking definitively from his rural Iowan parents, Vollie puts in motion an unimaginable chain of events, which sees him go to work for insidious people with intentions he cannot yet grasp. From the Cambodian jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico, Vollie's path traces a secret history of life on the margins of America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning.
With intense feeling, uncommon erudition, and bracing style, Scibona offers at once a pensive exploration of how we are capable of both inventing and discovering our true families and a lacerating interrogation of institutional power at its most commanding and terrifying. An odyssey of loss and salvation ranging across four generations of fathers and sons, The Volunteer is a triumph in the grandest traditions of American storytelling.
"All of it — all of it — is just so ridiculously beautiful." – Jason Sheehan, NPR.org
"The rewards are enormous. This is a spectacular work of fiction." – San Francisco Chronicle
A long-awaited new novel from a National Book Award Finalist, the epic story of a restless young man who is captured during the Vietnam War and pressed into service for a clandestine branch of the United States government
A small boy speaking an unknown language is abandoned by his father at an international airport, with only the clothes on his back and a handful of money jammed in the pocket of his coat. So begins The Volunteer. But in order to understand this heartbreaking and indefensible decision, the story must return to the moment, decades earlier, when a young man named Vollie Frade, almost on a whim, enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam. Breaking definitively from his rural Iowan parents, Vollie puts in motion an unimaginable chain of events, which sees him go to work for insidious people with intentions he cannot yet grasp. From the Cambodian jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico, Vollie's path traces a secret history of life on the margins of America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning.
With intense feeling, uncommon erudition, and bracing style, Scibona offers at once a pensive exploration of how we are capable of both inventing and discovering our true families and a lacerating interrogation of institutional power at its most commanding and terrifying. An odyssey of loss and salvation ranging across four generations of fathers and sons, The Volunteer is a triumph in the grandest traditions of American storytelling.
More Details
ISBN:
9780525558545
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Grouping Information
| Grouped Work ID | 7c3da57c-4218-2a3a-f444-0766c126561c |
|---|---|
| Grouping Title | volunteer |
| Grouping Author | salvatore scibona |
| Grouping Category | book |
| Grouping Language | English (eng) |
| Last Grouping Update | 2024-10-06 14:17:33PM |
| Last Indexed | 2024-10-11 05:35:05AM |
Solr Fields
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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Scibona, Salvatore
author_display
Scibona, Salvatore
available_at_cable
Cable Forest Lodge Library
detailed_location_cable
Cable Adult Fiction
display_description
"A small boy speaking an unknown language is abandoned by his father at an international airport, with only the clothes on his back and a handful of money jammed in the pocket of his coat. So begins The Volunteer. But in order to understand this heartbreaking and indefensible decision, the story must return to the moment, decades earlier, when a young man named Vollie Frade, almost on a whim, enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam. Breaking definitively from his rural Iowan parents, Vollie puts in motion an unimaginable chain of events, which sees him go to work for insidious people with intentions he cannot yet grasp. From the Cambodian jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico, Vollie's path traces a secret history of life on the margins of America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning. With intense feeling, uncommon erudition, and bracing style, Scibona offers at once a pensive exploration of how we are capable of both inventing and discovering our true families and a lacerating interrogation of institutional power at its most commanding and terrifying. An odyssey of loss and salvation ranging across four generations of fathers and sons, The Volunteer is a triumph in the grandest traditions of American storytelling"--Provided by publisher.
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Book
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Books
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9780525558545
itype_cable
BOOK - PAPERBACK
last_indexed
2024-10-11T10:35:05.983Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Fiction
literary_form_full
Fiction
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FIC SCI pb
owning_library_cable
Cable Forest Lodge Library
owning_location_cable
Cable Forest Lodge Library
primary_isbn
9780525558545
publishDate
2020
publisher
Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Fathers and sons -- Fiction
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Veterans -- Fiction
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Veterans -- Fiction
title_display
The volunteer : a novel
title_full
The volunteer : a novel / Salvatore Scibona
title_short
The volunteer
title_sub
a novel
topic_facet
Fathers and sons
Veterans
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Veterans
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Solr Details Tables
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| ils:.b2102635x | .i34567422 | Cable Adult Fiction | FIC SCI pb | 1 | false | false | Available | cafic |
record_details
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ils:.b2102635x | Book | Books | English | Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC | 2020 | 419 pages ; 21 cm |
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