A Novel
by Clyde Edgerton
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2011
224 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
In 1963, at the age of 17, Dwayne Hallston discovers James Brown and wants to perform just like him. His band, the Amazing Rumblers, studies and rehearses Brown's Live at the Apollo album in the storage room of his father's shop in their small North Carolina town. Meanwhile, Dwayne's forbidden black friend Larry - aspiring to play piano like Thelonius Monk - apprentices to a jazz musician called the Bleeder. His mother hopes music will allow him to escape the South.
A dancing chicken and a mutual passion for music help Dwayne and Larry as they try to achieve their dreams and maintain their friendship, even while their world says both are impossible. In The Night Train, Edgerton's trademark humor reminds us of our divided national history and the way music has helped bring us together.
"Starred Review. [The] work of a generous, restrained writer whose skill and craft allows small scenes to tell a larger, more profound story." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. It is the wealth of well-understood characters that carries the reader through this engaging novel's easily consumed pages." - Booklist
"Edgerton... tells this story skillfully and entertainingly, bringing the characters in this novel richly and vibrantly to life.... [T]he dialog here is particularly noteworthy, bristling and alive with gritty Southern flavor. Recommended for all fans of literary fiction." - Library Journal
"[H]is reputation remains solid.... Edgerton's knowledge about music is on full display, as is his understanding of the subtleties of race relations as the Civil Rights Movement picked up steam." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about The Night Train was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Clyde Edgerton is the author of nine previous novels. He teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he lives with his wife, Kristina, and their children. You can visit his website at www.clydeedgerton.com
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