Such Kindness

A Novel

7 May 2024

Description

A full-hearted parable of aspiration, loss and redemption from a literary master of working-class New England

Tom Lowe’s fall was catastrophic—a moment of fatigued inattention while shingling a roof leading to excruciating pain, opioid addiction, divorce and estrangement from his son. Yet Tom still considers himself a worker, unlike his shiftless neighbours in subsidised housing. And he resents the hell out of the banker and adjustable-rate mortgage responsible for foreclosure on the home he built himself. After his car is impounded, Tom stoops lower than he ever thought possible, with a scheme to commit fraud. But in digging through literal trash, Tom finds that something new begins to grow: a recognition of common humanity, a self-acceptance deeper than pride, a determination to give what he can. Still, he’ll need to fall even further before he finds a new place to rest. To one man’s painful moral journey, Andre Dubus III brings compassion with an edge of dark absurdity, forging a novel as absorbing as it is profound.

Reviews

"Dubus is at the top of his game here, masterfully carrying the reader from the present action to Tom's memories and dreams without confusion. The writing and the structure are clean and seamless." — Issac Fitzgerald, The New York Times Book Review

"A powerful portrait of recovered dignity." — People

"Dubus excels at showing how mistakes can compound into tragedy...[and] brilliantly captures the ways chronic pain erodes the self...'Such Kindness' is an astonishing novel about all these feelings, and the actions they call forth when we pay attention." — Lorraine Berry, The Los Angeles Times

"Such Kindness charts a remarkable rebirth, not from poverty to wealth but from bitter helplessness to the knowledge of self-worth. The result is a gripping and transformational journey towards kindness, in a tremendously moving novel." — Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House

"Such Kindness is magnificent. A profound and compassionate study of how to be human wrapped in a taut survival story. I loved it so much. This is Dubus at his absolute finest." — Lily King, author of Five Tuesdays in Winter

Also By: Andre Dubus III

Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin
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Essays from the literary master and best-selling author of Townie on a life of challenges, contradictions and fulfillments
Gone So Long: A Novel
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Paperback, 2019
Andre Dubus III probes the limits of recovery and absolution in this masterpiece of empathy.
Gone So Long: A Novel
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Hardback, 2018
Andre Dubus III’s first novel in a decade is a masterpiece of thrilling tension and heartrending empathy.
Gone So Long: A Novel
Andre Dubus III
E Book, 2018
Andre Dubus III probes the limits of recovery and absolution in this masterpiece of empathy.
House of Sand and Fog: A Novel
Andre Dubus III
Paperback, 2018
The National Book Award finalist, Oprah’s Book Club pick, #1 New York Times bestseller and basis for the Oscar-nominated motion picture