The Book of Hard Things

by Sue Halpern

A provocative first novel that explores the porous borders between friendship, sex and love At eighteen, Cuzzy Gage has never been out of Poverty, the isolated mountain hamlet where he was born, raised, and--much to the annoyance of his dreamy girlfriend, the mother of his child--seems destined to stay. He is content to hang out and just get by; it's as if ambition hasn't occurred to him. Enter Tracy Edwards, who has come to the area after the death...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374115591
• ISBN13: 9780374115593
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A wonderful first novel, hard edged Adirondack life

I have been a fan of Sue Halpern's writing since Migrations to Solitude. I found this books as I searched this site for new works from authors I respect. My introduction to the book was as a reader of the reviews on this site. I'll admit it, I was confused. How could Sue Halpern write so haphazardly or gratuitously as some reader comments suggest. I usd those reviews as guides through the book and found none of the disappointment one would anticipate after reading such negative stuff. I'm no critic. I'm a reader, and I am also an Adirondacker of sorts. I think that what might have startled some readers is the gentle and flowing Ms. Halpern is not so gentle in this novel. It does flow well, in my estimation. What is missed is what makes her writing work time and time again, the quality that prevails in all her writing: honest portrayal of subject matter. If you are looking to be swept away into bucholic bliss in a quaint Adirondack setting, run from this book. If you are looking for a compelling story that is so absolutely true to what life can really be like in a small Adirondack town, buy this book! Sue caputures what is a particular lonliness and longing that casts its shadow as often as not on the youth of Adriondack towns living far from what most of us understand as community life. The characters, every one of them, are portrayed with honesty and can easily be found in almost any small, remote town. Not fun stuff, but the real McCoy. She doesn't pretend for a moment to lead anywhere other than the theme of hardness, from the title to the various themes that set each chapter, she leads us to despair and hope and back again to the inevidible hardness that is created by not being able to get away. Some were unhappy with plots undeveloped, for example the fact that the tree house goes unexamined after its miraculous finding. That wasn't,in my estimation, undeveloped or faulty. It was the undeniablilty of the randomness, the wandering of existence and circumstance of such a place. The scary part for me is the absolute possibility of the brutalness of the ending of the book. It wasn't gratuitous or unnecessary. It was born of hardness, of the rigidness of boredom and the desire for excitement and change...just about any change in otherwise listless lives. And as for the ending...don't forget, Cuzzy ends up knocking on that door (you'll have to read it to know where I am going). His time with Tracy was one of growth and even through the tragedy of a brutal loss of life he is lead to a greater knowledge of himself. To me, the ending can be taken two ways. One of a continued hardness,of Cuzzy capitulating to the hopelessness of isolation in a small town. But how I read it was as a positive ending. Cuzzy is willing to open up, to take a chance, to see that his life has meaning (thank you Tracy) and that maybe he can being those things he never would have discoveres without Tracy's presence to bear on his life and that of hi

Someone needs to check their geography

The novel has some very compelling character portraits. However, I was surprised to read the review in Publishers Weekly describing the book as being set in "New England logging town." It's in fact set in the Adirondack Mountains, which are in New York state.

a book of miracles

Beautiful, and searingly sad, yet somehow infused with hope. Halpern writes out of deep knowlege of place and people, and crafts a page-turner that leaves one breathless.