American gospel : a novel

Format:

Book

Title:

American gospel : a novel

Author:

Enger, Lin author

ISBN:

9781517910549

9781517912741

Publication:

Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, [2020]

Physical Description:

251 pages ; 24 cm

Summary:

"On a small farm beside a lake in Minnesota's north woods an old man is waiting for the Rapture, which God has told him will happen in two weeks, on August 19, 1974. When word gets out, Last Days Ranch becomes ground zero for The End, drawing zealots, curiosity seekers, and reporters--among them the prophet's son, a skeptical New York writer suddenly caught between his overbearing father and the news story of a lifetime. Into the mix comes Melanie Magnus, a glamorous actress who has old allegiances to both father and son. Meanwhile, Nixon's resignation has transfixed the nation... Lin Enger draws us into these disparate yet inextricably linked lives, each enacting a part in a drama forever being replayed and together moving toward a conclusion that will take all of them--and us--by surprise."--Provided by publisher.

Subject(s):

End of the world -- Fiction.

Prophecy -- Christianity -- Fiction.

Prophets -- Fiction.

Fathers and sons -- Fiction.

Ranches -- Minnesota -- Fiction.

Communal living -- Fiction.

Nineteen seventies -- Fiction.

Minnesota -- Fiction.

Geographic Term:

Minnesota -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Salem Main Library	Enger, L.	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Radically personal and quintessentially American, an intimate drama at the heart of an apocalyptic vision

On a small farm beside a lake in Minnesota's north woods an old man is waiting for the Rapture, which God has told him will happen in two weeks, on August 19, 1974. When word gets out, Last Days Ranch becomes ground zero for The End, drawing zealots, curiosity seekers, and reporters--among them the prophet's son, a skeptical New York writer suddenly caught between his overbearing father and the news story of a lifetime. Into the mix comes Melanie Magnus, a glamorous actress who has old allegiances to both father and son. Meanwhile, Nixon's resignation has transfixed the nation.

Writing with clear compassion and gentle wit, Lin Enger draws us into these disparate yet inextricably linked lives, each enacting a part in a drama forever being replayed and together moving toward a conclusion that will take all of them--and us--by surprise. Set during a time that resonates with our own tension-filled moment, American Gospel cuts close to the battles occurring within ourselves and for the soul of the nation, and in doing so radiates light on a dark strain in America's psyche, when the false security of dogma competes with the risky tumult of freedom.

Author Notes

Lin Enger has published two previous novels, Undiscovered Country and The High Divide , a finalist for awards from the Midwest Booksellers Association, the Society of Midland Authors, and Reading the West. His stories have been published in literary journals such as Glimmer Train , Ascent , and American Fiction . A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he has received a James Michener Award, a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, and a Jerome travel grant. He teaches English at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Enger (The High Divide) sets this potent novel in mid-1970s Battlepoint, Minn., where pious preacher Enoch, leader of a religious commune, has collapsed. After Enoch is revived, he claims an angel visited him to announce a rapturous biblical prophecy, in which Jesus Christ will appear to "snatch up all true believers" on Enoch's land in two weeks' time. Enoch's vision propels much of the plot, into which Enger dexterously adds Enoch's son, Peter, a struggling 30-something Manhattan journalist hoping to cover President Nixon's anticipated resignation, and Melanie, a Hollywood starlet and boyhood love of Peter's, whom Enoch convinces to travel to Battlepoint to participate in the communal pilgrimage to the place now known as "Ground Jesus." Word of Melanie's sojourn spreads quickly across the celebrity newswires, sparking a media frenzy and a poignant epic showdown at the zero hour. Enger takes on a lot, from playing on the momentum and the mysteries of religious prognostication to the innate familial allegiance between prophetic father and skeptical son, and for the most part it ties together, though readers may feel the primary characters are a bit underdeveloped. Still, Enger effectively expands on themes of belonging and blind devotion as a group of true believers face their final day of reckoning. While Enger doesn't reach the height he seeks, there is plenty of apocalyptic excitement. (Oct.)