The Reserve - by Russell Banks (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"At once a harrowing mystery, an illuminating psychological novel of subverted love and family dysfunction, and a powerful commentary on class structure in America . . . [Banks is] one of America's finest contemporary fiction writers." --Boston Globe

Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness--and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules.

Vanessa Cole is a stunningly beautiful and wild heiress. Twice-married, she has been scandalously linked to rich and famous men. On the night of July 4, 1936, inside her family's remote Adirondack Mountain enclave known as the Reserve, Vanessa will lose her father to a heart attack--and meet Jordan Groves, a seductively carefree local artist. Jordan is easy prey for Vanessa's electrifying charm. But when Vanessa becomes unhinged by her father's unexpected death, she begins to spin out of control, manipulating and destroying the lives of all who cross her path.

Moving from the secluded beauty of the Adirondacks to war-torn Spain and fascist Germany, and filled with characters that pierce the heart, The Reserve is a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense and drama.

From the Back Cover

Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness--and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules. Moving from the secluded beauty of the Adirondack wilderness to the skies above war-torn Spain and Fascist Germany, The Reserve is a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense that adds a new dimension to this acclaimed author's extraordinary repertoire.

Review Quotes

"Like our living literary giants Toni Morrison and Thomas Pynchon, Russell Banks is a great writer wrestling with the hidden secrets and explosive realities of this country." -- Cornel West

"Russell Banks's work presents without falsehood and with tough affection the uncompromising moral voice of our time... I trust his portraits of America more than any other--the burden of it, the need for it, the hell of it." -- Michael Ondaatje

"Banks ranks among our boldest artists." -- Boston Globe

"A vividly imagined book. It has the romantic atmosphere of those great 1930s tales in film and prose, and it speeds the reader along from its first pages...Banks' talents are so large - and the novel so fundamentally engaging...THE RESERVE is a pleasure well worth savoring." -- Scott Turow, Publishers Weekly

"A cool noir thriller...This is new and wonderful turf for this masterful storyteller." -- William Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ironweed and Roscoe

"...sexy, almost guilty pleasure of a read..." -- Elle Magazine

"...this powerful and beautiful Russell Banks novel is close to a masterpiece." -- Deseret Morning News

"[A] riveting narrative, featuring an almost pot-boiling love story . . . tantalizing . . . Banks works with a vast palette and a sure stylistic command. The Reserve gratifies page by page." -- Los Angeles Times

"Russell Banks's work presents without falsehood and with tough affection the uncompromising moral voice of our time. I trust his portraits of America more than any other." -- Michael Ondaatje

"Banks's willingness to confront... the hard truths about the world we live in... goes a long way toward explaining his longstanding reputation as one of America's finest contemporary fiction writers." -- Boston Globe

"The novel's strength...is the story Banks has to tell... 'The Reserve' captures the drama, not just of these characters' lives, but of this moment in American history." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"As a love letter to the mountains and greenery and water, [The Reserve] conveys deep feeling." -- Chicago Sun-Times

"...[A]n almost pot-boiling love story set against a backdrop of global unrest and clearly demarcated class tensions...[it] has character and scene--as well as suspense and surprise--in abundance." -- Los Angeles Times

"[The Reserve] is beautifully and elegantly written, showing the author as a lover of language....[T]his powerful and beautiful Russell Banks novel is close to a masterpiece." -- Deseret News

"The Reserve is a page-turner from the moment mad beauty Vanessa Cole insinuates herself aboard the biplane of Hemingway-esque antihero Jordan Groves." -- Express

"Banks...displays a vivid immediacy that puts you right in the middle of things." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Banks peels back [the characters'] gloss so that we can enter their interior." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Banks's new novel, The Reserve, may well be the best--and darkest--work of fiction written to date about the storied regiou of high peaks, glacial lakes, and vast forests covering an area nearly teh size of Massachusetts." -- Boston Sunday Globe

"[The Reserve]...holds lessons for our own time. It's a supremely well-written book..." -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"...[Russell Banks] carved out a reputation with words, bu producing some of the best fiction of our time." -- Miami Herald

"...Banks has immersed himself in the time he's writing about and manages to evoke Hemingway without ever aping his style..." -- Christian Science Monitor