The End of Vandalism
Book description
Set in rural Iowa, this “breathtaking . . . remarkable achievement” of a debut novel by the author of Pacific is “at once funny, sad, and touching” (New York Newsday).
A New York Magazine and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
With extensive excerpts appearing in the New Yorker…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The End of Vandalism as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I don’t know how I missed this extraordinary debut novel when it was first published back in 1994, but I count myself very lucky to have finally found my way to it.
One reviewer put it this way: “Miraculous. . . . reads like life itself.” Another described it as “quietly heartbreaking, laugh-out-loud funny, and always, absolutely convincing.”
Add to that characters who, however egregious their flaws, are rendered honestly and sympathetically, and you have a novel that is as rich and deeply heart felt as any I’ve ever read.
Tom Drury has been called “the greatest writer you’ve never heard of” and when you discover his work, you’ll feel a thrill similar to the joy of knowing the gems hiding in plain sight throughout the Midwest (Get it? Plain sight?). The End of Vandalism, Drury’s first novel (you could read any of them- they’re all great, but start with this one as the same characters reappear in future books), takes place in a fictional Iowa town and follows the lives of three of its residents, who are involved in a love triangle. Drury writes real, beautiful, complicated,…
From Annie's list on beautifully rendered Midwestern people and places.
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