Ray of the Star
A Novel
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
Two lost souls searching for meaning in this moving, dreamlike novel of from “one of the most talented young writers on the American scene today” (Paul Auster). Determined to find his place in the world, Harry ventures to a vibrant European city that has roots both in the present and past. There, he is drawn to the boulevard—and especially to Solange, a silent, silver angel awash in Lucite tears and heartbreak. A love story related in the dark, stylish noir of continental cinema and overlaid with a patina of surrealism, this is a novel where friends are also informers, street theater is the lifeblood of culture, and refuge can be found in the belly of a yellow, papier-mâché submarine. As Harry and Solange reckon with seers offering answers to insoluble questions, neighbors who take evening strolls with the dearly departed, critics who control more than artistic fate, and shoes determined to lead their wearers astray, they come to understand the price of survival—and come to a reckoning with their tragic pasts.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hunt (Indiana, Indiana) delivers a fourth novel about drifters that unfortunately never wanders into particularly interesting territory. Unable to find meaning in his life and suffering from a nasty bout of restless leg syndrome, Harry returns to Barcelona, where he once spent a few happy months. At a cafe, a stranger, Ireneo, beckons him to follow, and Harry soon realizes that Ireneo is really after one of the living statues who perform for the tourists, a sad-looking girl in an angel costume. Smitten with the girl, Harry decides to become a living statue of Don Quixote complete with golden body paint designed to attract her interest. Meanwhile, Ireneo, sidetracked by his mother's sudden illness, searches for the angel while imagining that he is being pursued by ghosts. While lyrically written, the origin of Harry's malaise is never made clear, and an attempt to fuse his meanderings over the city with the metaphysical explorations of his fellow lost souls is where the novel badly stumbles, leaving strands of the early plot dangling over a sour mishmash of unexplainable sadness.
