Affliction

Written by Russell Banks

Narrated by Richard Ferrone

""Banks has taken on a profound theme, the ruinous and awful affliction of violence that seems to live like a secret blood-disease handed down in men like Wade. . . . He turns it into a living art that can bring recognition and awe."" — Los Angeles Book Review

""A masterwork of contemporary American fiction"" (Chicago Tribune) from one of the most acclaimed and important writers of our time

Wade Whitehouse is an improbable protagonist for a tragedy. A well-digger and policeman in a bleak New Hampshire town, he is a former high-school star gone to beer fat, a loner with a mean streak. It is a mark of Russell Banks's artistry and understanding that Wade comes to loom in one's mind as a blue-collar American Everyman afflicted by the dark secret of the macho tradition. Told by his articulate, equally scarred younger brother, Wade's story becomes as spellbinding and inexorable as a fuse burning its way to the dynamite.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062955166

Russell Banks

Russell Banks, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and he received numerous prizes and awards, including the Common Wealth Award for Literature. He died in January 2023 at the age of eighty-two.  

Reviews for Affliction

[russellbittner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As I wrote last month in my review of The Sweet Hereafter, “Russell Banks accomplishes a psychological study par excellence.” The same is true of Affliction. If there’s a difference in the number of stars I’ve awarded to the two works, that difference resides in this: Affliction has – at least to my way of thinking – narrative errors. Any editor worth his or her stripes could’ve spotted those errors and pointed them out to Mr. Banks. (S)he did not. The work went to press as is.


What I will say in support of Affliction is that it moves – and paints a very vivid picture. The picture it paints is somewhat unlike the calendar photos you may’ve seen year after year of autumn in New England. I know. I’ve spent many a third weekend in October in Vermont or New Hampshire, ogling the foliage. That foliage will never be the same for me again. Not after Russell Banks’s Affliction.


Where the work excels is in character development. Where it falls short is in plot: I was too often confused as to who did what and to whom – perhaps Mr. Banks’s intention.


In any case, if you read only one work of Russell Banks’s, read The Sweet Hereafter. Affliction will not disappoint – not by a long shot – but it’s not up to snuff with (or of the stuff of) The Sweet Hereafter.


RRB
06/20/14
Brooklyn, NY

[grheault_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

indignity to incendiary... and all the little steps along the way... working class white guy in small town New England, a rarely portrayed character, in superb psychological detail. Another empathy producing book.

[victorianh_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book since I live in NH and can see how cloying and close small town life can be. I didn't give it 4 stars as it could have used some editing. The descriptions of the surroundings and the small town were overly long and parts of the book seemed repetitive. However, the story was well told and engaging.

[hayduke_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in the middle of winter while living in Maine, which may have been a little dangerous. A dark tale of inheritance of family pain. I especially liked Wade's brother as the unreliable narrator, relating details he couldn't possibly know. The film version is an excellent adaptation.

[piefuchs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent examination of the roots of family violence. The fall of intelligent man stuck in a deadend town with a deadend job and a taste for alcohol is beautifully and painfully told by his brother, the college professor. An exceptional book by a great author, this is the penultimate example of Banks' New Hampshire. The movie (which I saw prior to reading the book) is a worthy rendition of the novel.

[wordygirl39 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite Banks book that I've read. The movie was good, too. Don't read it if you're depressed, though.

[jawalter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The more I read of Banks, the more I wonder how I've made it this long without reading more of him. His prose is beautiful and his subject matter is always darkly compelling.

Affliction is no exception, delving deeply into a man it would be easy to ignore. In fact, for the most part, that seems to be Wade's defining feature; he's overlooked for so long, until even after it would seem impossible to avoid him, he disappears. It would be easy to say the book describes his steady descent into madness, but his inner world is so richly described that it's impossible not to sympathize with him.

At once a taut thriller and a densely-woven character piece, Banks has created a masterpiece.

The movie, unfortunately, is not nearly as good.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wade Whitehouse could be an ordinary guy. He could be that small town, hard-working, have a beer with the boys, all-around nice guy. Except bad luck not only follows Wade like a hungry dog, it bites him when he's down. No matter how caring Wade Whitehouse is on the inside, no matter how well-meaning he is, when things go wrong people know not to stand in his way. The entire tiny town of Lawford, New Hampshire knows Wade and his troubles. It's no secret he has a mean streak that runs to the center of his very core. Alcohol and a nagging toothache only widen that streak until it takes over his whole being. In theory it's not all Wade's fault. Abused by his father during his formative years, Wade loses his wife, home and daughter when he himself turns violent. All he wants is more time with his daughter, a decent paycheck and a simple way of life. When none of these things come easily Wade sets out to unveil the truth and right the wrongs, using violence as the vehicle to do so. What makes Wade's story so fascinating is that it is told from a younger brother's perspective. Being in Massachusetts he is a comfortable distance from both his brother and the memories that have scarred him, too.

[josephj_530382 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rolfe Whitehouse narrates how he believes the last few days of Wade’s (his older brother) life played out. Rolfe makes it clear from the beginning that Wade Whitehouse went missing and under some very violent circumstances. From there Rolfe dips in and out of the minds of many characters that inhabit Wade’s world. Rolfe is trying to make sense of Wade’s final days so that he could possibly move on with his own life, which may prove harder that Rolfe realizes. The major theme is that of the danger that traditional ideas about manhood (strong, warrior-like, breadwinning, emotionally cold) can cause on an individual who may not fit that mold. Abuse and alcoholism represent the vicious cycle of violence perpetuated by these masculine ideals, to which no man could ever live up. Most of the men in Affliction fall into coarse versions of those ideals by asserting their dominance and power in other, usually violent, ways. Banks expertly creates the mood of a New Hampshire winter steeped with beauty and, strangely, aggression. All the open wilderness is a claustrophobic space that these characters live in, and things get hairy in such tight quarters. The landscape, the abuse and alcoholism, the thwarted male ideology all work well to show the breakdown of man who tumbles through a series of unfortunate circumstances, never really finding the footing he needs to right himself.Great read. Still have to see the movie.

[abirdman_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I consider this Banks' best novel. A hard and unflinching examination of deeply flawed characters, Banks is fair, respectful, compassionate, and almost loving with them. This was made into a good movie, but read the book first. The book depressed me for weeks, but maybe it was the "good kind" of depression.