About this item
Highlights
- "A motormouth Philip Roth.
- Author(s): David Hicks
- 354 Pages
- Fiction + Literature Genres, Literary
Description
About the Book
Danny Gausepohl's life was solid-until tragedy struck. Set amid early 21st-century turmoil, The Gospel According to Danny explores love, fatherhood, and a fractured America. Can Danny rebuild, or is nothing left to come home to?
Book Synopsis
"A motormouth Philip Roth." Matt Bell, author of Appleseed
At the dawn of the new millennium, Danny Gausepohl seems to have it all: a marriage to his college sweetheart, Lia Adams-a middle-class Jewish academic-, a steady job as head waiter at The American Bistro near the Bronx, and his first home in Brewster. But the stability he's built is fragile. Missteps, betrayals, and a devastating school shooting upend his world, unraveling everything he holds dear.
Meanwhile, the nation itself is in turmoil. The Columbine massacre, the contested Bush/Gore election, and the tragedy of 9/11 mark the beginning of a new, fractured America. Over the next fifteen years, Danny is forced to navigate personal and national upheaval, struggling to hold onto his identity as a hardworking husband and father. But when that identity is ripped away, he faces his greatest challenge yet: reinventing himself in a country that no longer feels like home.
The Gospel According to Danny is a deeply human story about love, fatherhood, and the cost of a divided nation, perfect for fans of Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, and We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. As Danny grapples with the loss of his values, beliefs, and sense of self, he must ask: Is there anything-or anyone-left to come home to?
Review Quotes
"Set amidst the political and cultural milestones of the early 21st-century, David Hicks's The Gospel According to Danny explores the way that tragedy splits life into before and after. In deeply evocative prose, Hicks writes of class and race, parenthood and love and friendship, violence and grief, and, most of all, transformation. Hicks is wise and compassionate, as he narrates this very American tale." Lori Ostlund, author of Are You Happy?
"In The Gospel According to Danny, David Hicks serves up a breakneck pursuit of the American Dream, plumbing the triumphs and disappointments of the early twenty-first century with enviable humor and generous grace. Writing like a motormouth Philip Roth, Hicks deftly and defiantly explores how we chart our own individual destinies, as well as how we're each shaped by the shareable dreams of marriage and parenthood, family and country." Matt Bell, author of Appleseed
"The Gospel According to Danny is such a beautiful read, delving into personal psychology while taking us through the tragedies-large and small-that mark our times. Danny, a young man finding his way through the troubling worlds of love and labor, is deeply appealing-as a figure of reason and compassion, but also as a reminder of the crushing choices economics impose upon the working class. Anyone who's worked in the service industry will appreciate the behind-the-scenes restaurant drama. Hicks' exploration of marriage is nuanced and poignant: two people inexorably drawn apart by forces only partially in their control. Ultimately, Hicks paints a dynamic portrait of relatable characters while at the same time portraying, with unflinching vigor, the fall of the American empire." Philip Brady, author of The Elsewhere
"The Gospel According to Danny is a dark, funny, modern parable of the prodigal son coming home to a self worth becoming. From the vineyards of the restaurant business, through a dark wood of marriage let free in the wilds of 21st Century American West and back, Hicks offers a deeply effecting portrait of a young man misspending his life into wisdom, empathy, and the capacity for love that, against the odds, makes it all worthwhile." Robert Mooney, author of Father of the Man
