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Title details for Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt - Available

Lookaway, Lookaway

A Novel

by Wilton Barnhardt
Scott Shepherd
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

"Move over, Tom Wolfe! Writing with brilliance and brio, Barnhardt has penned a hilarious satire which often has surprising depth and hits way too close to the truth." —Lee Smith
Jerene Jarvis Johnston and her husband Duke are exemplars of Charlotte, North Carolina's high society, a world where old Southern money and the secrets behind it meet the new wealth of bankers, real estate speculators, and carpetbagging social climbers. Steely and implacable, Jerene presides over her family's legacy of paintings at the Mint Museum; Duke, the one-time college golden boy and descendant of a Confederate general, whose promising political career was mysteriously short-circuited, has settled into a comfortable semi-senescence as a Civil War re-enactor. Jerene's brother Gaston is an infamously dissolute bestselling historical novelist who has never managed to begin his long-dreamed-of masterpiece, and their sister Dillard's unfortunate life decisions and losses have rendered her a near-recluse.
As the four Johnston children—smart but reckless Annie, good-boy minister Bo, might be gay but that's okay Joshua, and damaged, dangerous Jerilyn—flounder in their adult lives, Jerene must take action to preserve the family's legacy, Duke's fragile honor, and what's left of the dwindling family fortune. She will stop at nothing to keep what she has—is it too much to ask for one ounce of cooperation from her heedless family? In Lookaway, Lookaway, Wilton Barnhardt has written a full-bore, headlong, hilarious narrative of a family coming apart, a society changing beyond recognition, and an unforgettable woman striving to pull it all together.
Includes a bonus interview between Wilton Barnhardt and George Witte, editor-in-chief of St. Martin's Press.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Fiction Book of 2013

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    August 20, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427229335
      • File size: 465886 KB
      • Duration: 16:10:35

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 1, 2013
      North Carolina native Barnhardt’s frothy, satirical latest (after Show World) is Southern gothic at its most decadent and dysfunctional. With each chapter dedicated to a different character—one more self-indulgent and flawed than the last—the sprawling saga of an esteemed clan’s fall from grace and fortune spools out in fits and starts. Some members are more emotionally complex (and therefore more entertaining to read about) than others. The sections devoted to the four flailing Johnston kids—including spoiled college co-ed Jerilyn’s drivel about her sorority-pledging shenanigans (think wanton lewd behavior including a tired sex-with-a-sheep joke)—delve into too much repetitive, perhaps excessive, detail. But the adults pick up the slack, chiefly Gaston—a bestselling author of Civil War–themed potboilers, who has a potty mouth, gobs of cash, and a weakness for hard liquor and prostitutes, and his sister, Jerene, the unflappable matriarch and “distillation of rich-white-lady force who could eat her social inferiors for hors d’oeuvres.” (Her hilarious one-liners are standouts.) As the scandals pile up, including a raucous Christmas dinner showdown, and a hoot of a finale that’s pure shock and awe, this mess of a family has nowhere left to go but up—well, not if they can help it. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      It's a hot time in modern-day Dixie as the Jarvis-Johnston clan sins and steals their way through Charlotte, North Carolina, society. Scott Shepherd impresses the listener with his depiction of male characters, especially the self-congratulatory yet defeated Gaston Jarvis, who made a mint penning Civil War novels. Shepherd's vocalization of Charlotte's gay community keeps the listener laughing. Perhaps it's inevitable that his voice does not register well in the female range. Nonetheless, his performance does what no printed page can, eloquently immersing the listener in the harsh truths that Barnhardt's characters must face. To paraphrase the despised Jarvis matriarch, Jeanette, no one who has money got it honestly. J.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from October 1, 2013

      Barnhardt's (Gospel) latest novel is a tour de force, chronicling a majestic Southern family's rise and fall. The Johnston and Jarvis family saga spans several decades and is stunning in its honesty, cleverness, and dark humor. Jerene Jarvis Johnston strives to uphold her affluent Southern roots and traditions in Charlotte, NC, but as the 21st century progresses and society changes, she finds it harder to maintain the facade. Her four children lead vastly different lives from what she had envisioned for them, she's constantly cleaning up her good-for-nothing alcoholic brother's messes, her mother doesn't have the decency to die and stop being a thorn in their side, and to top it all off her saintly husband, Duke, has some skeletons in his closet. Narrated brilliantly by North Carolina native Scott Shepherd, who gives all of the characters distinctive voices with perfect inflections and tones. VERDICT This engaging, inventive romp into the rise and fall of an eclectic Southern family is a must listen for fans of Southern literature and dark family sagas.--Erin Cataldi, Franklin Coll., IN

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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