Independence Day

By Richard Ford

Frank Bascombe is no longer a sportswriter, yet he's still living in Haddam, New Jersey, where he now sells real estate. He's still divorced, though his ex-wife, to his dismay, has remarried and moved along with their children to Connecticut. But Frank is happy enough in his work and pursuing various civic and entrepreneurial sidelines. He has high hopes for this 4th of July weekend: a search for a house for deeply hapless clients relocating to Vermont; a rendezvous on the Jersey shore with his girlfriend; then up to Connecticut to pick up his larcenous and emotionally troubled teenage son and visit as many sports halls of fame as they can fit into two days. Frank's Independence Day, however, turns out not as he'd planned, and this decent, appealingly bewildered, profoundly observant man is wrenched, gradually and inevitably, out of his private refuge. Independence Day captures the mystery of life — in all its conflicted glory — with grand humour, intense compassion and transfixing power.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307363718

Richard Ford

Richard Ford (Jackson, Mississippi, 1944) es Premio Princesa de Asturias de las Letras 2016 y ha publicado las novelas Un trozo de mi corazón, La última oportunidad, Incendios, Canadáy la serie protagonizada por Frank Bascombe: El periodista deportivo, El Día de la Independencia (premios Pulitzer y PEN/Faulkner), Acción de Gracias, Francamente, Frank y Sé mía; cuatro libros de narraciones, Rock Springs, De mujeres con hombres, Pecados sin cuento y Lamento lo ocurrido, y los volúmenes memorialísticos Mi madre, Flores en las grietas y Entre ellos, editados todos en Anagrama y que le han confirmado como uno de los mejores escritores norteamericanos de su generación: «El mejor escritor en activo de este país» (Raymond Carver); «Un crítico norteamericano ha dicho que Ford se inscribía en la tradición de Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck... Se está convirtiendo tranquilamente en el mejor escritor norteamericano» (Bernard Géniès, Le Nouvel Observateur); «Richard Ford nos habla de un mundo que nos pertenece, como una canción de Tom Waits o –sirva como paradigma iconográfico– el film de Wim Wenders Paris-Texas» (J. Ernesto Ayala-Dip, El País).

Reviews for Independence Day

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting enough, it was a holiday weekend, an Easter in fact, which delineated this rather regal reading. I read most of this in Indianapolis while working. It was a quiet cafe which I recall as sullen. I am not sure as the reasons for.

[minaisham · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

-- After first dozen or so pages Richard Ford's INDEPENDENCE DAY interested me. Frank Bascombe is an "ordinary" man living in New Jersey. He is a divorced father. He changes careers. He has moved two or three times & dated a few women. Bascombe is thoughtful, kind, & generous. His life hasn't been especially easy or difficult but Frank Bascombe is content. Initially I thought INDEPENDENCE DAY was another "typical" novel written by a white American male but this reader identifies with Bascombe (& Ford) because she has a modest home, an almost fulltime job, & enough food. Life is pretty wonderful. Now I know why INDEPENDENCE DAY was awarded a 1996 Pulitzer prize. --

[jimnicol-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Don't know of another writer who could keep me interested in 400 pages of internal dialogue...but Richard Ford manages by some magic to make the whole world come alive through Frank Bascombe's senses and thoughts...

[kvrfan9 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Frank Banscombe is a divorced, middle-aged realtor who presents a front that he has arrived at a certain peace in his life, pretty much having it "all together," but it's clear when he has any contact with those who mean anything to him--his girlfriend, his ex-wfie, his kids--he's really pretty clueless. The only ones he can feel confident with are those who are even more clueless than he is.

Frank may indeed be an archetype for a certain class of American male--carrying a deluded self-satisfaction--but I really tired of him. Something horrendous happens over 3/4 of the way into the novel which leaves the reader with an inkling that may take Frank on a new trajectory, but as this is only the second book in the Ford's "Banscombe trilogy," that will have to wait until the third book for the reader to find out.

[salmondaze · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Frank Bascombe is a palooka writer out of Haddam, New Jersey who takes his son on a trip to the baseball hall of fame for the Fourth Of July. Although hyper observant he is wrong about his situation about as often as Jake Gittes from Chinatown is. He's also a first rate loser, but none of these issues really comes up in the guileless English prose that sets out this tale. He may not be special. He may not even be likable (I don't know if I'd want him as a friend), but he is a celebration of the average and the everyday. In that sense he stands for something.This novel, as opposed to its prequel, The Sportswriter, is about the Existence Period for Mr. Bascombe. He has moved on from sportswriting to realty with a little landlordship and proprietorship. I'm glad to see he's moved forward in some oblique fashion and he's willing to refer to his ex-wife by her proper name now. Her name is Ann, by the way. She's remarried now and Frank predictably doesn't like her new spouse. He also doesn't like his son much, Paul, who is tackling the "unbearable bastard" phase of his teen years.Frank Bascombe appropriately surrounds himself with unlikable people, though they're unlikable in different ways. There's the hotheads McLeods, pussyfooting Joe Markham, and shotgun toting fool Karl Bemish. Ann's new husband, Charley O'Dell, is likable and actually appropriately disliked by Frank. Don't think Frank doesn't have a squeeze of his own, either. Sally Caldwell is his girlfriend and he, of course, starts to wonder if he wants her or wants his wife. He leans toward her but he's too indecisive to move forward. Hence Existence Period. I wouldn't trade places with Frank for a million bucks.But the novel is well written. Frank's voice is so real you can actually hear him talk as you read, or at least I can. Having a character like that means you as a writer are definitely doing something right. Frank Bascombe may be a loser, this book may be arguably boring, but Richard Ford writes with incredible empathy and not quitting on this man deserves an award in itself.

[lauralkeet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Independence Day is the second of Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe novels, set several years after The Sportswriter. Frank is now working in real estate and has come to terms with his status as a divorced man, although he finds it difficult to accept his wife Ann’s remarriage, and worries about how to develop and sustain relationships with his children. As the Independence Day holiday approaches, Frank is trying very hard to close a real estate deal with difficult (but amusing) clients so he can get away for a long weekend with his teenage son Paul, who has been showing worrying signs of behavioral and emotional issues. The road trip includes visits to the basketball and baseball halls of fame, and Frank hopes their time together will be an opportunity to work through some of Paul’s issues. And it is, but not in the way he expects.Ford’s writing is quiet, contemplative and absolutely wonderful. The plot unfolds over just a few days, but the narrative is also filled with back story and digression that delivers rich characterizations and emotional depth. Ford gradually teases out Frank’s complex character, largely through internal monologue. There were times -- particularly in his relationships with women -- that I wanted to smack Frank. At other times, Frank showed himself to be both astute and caring, and I wanted to give him a big hug. And I think that’s exactly what Ford intended. It’s easy to see why this book won the Pulitzer Prize.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Frank Bascombe has entered his Existence Period. It’s that time in his life when he is unconnected to those around him, cut off from his ex-wife and two children who have decamped to Deep River, uncommitted to the current woman he is seeing, and fundamentally distant from himself. He tools around Haddam, New Jersey, in his large automobile, encased in a kind of protective shell, observing, noting, scoping out the particulars of properties he may be in line to shift in his new career as a realtor, idling at the curb and in his own life. But the Existence Period is unstable, bound to collapse at the first sign of real emotion, whether that be despair or hope in the face of tragedy. And tragedy is definitely lurking. Everywhere. A momentous Fourth of July weekend descends into a nightmarish world of crazed house purchasers, senseless murder, self harm and mutilation, and the constant threat of violence meted out by others or oneself (if one’s impulses are given free rein), which is met by vigilance in the form of patrolling police, private security, metal bars on domestic windows, handguns, or mace. Or it is allowed to overwhelm one, washing through one’s life like a purging torrent. And there is little doubt that Frank, loquaciously professing platitudes and realtor buzz to stoke up the confidence of himself and his clients, is not up to the challenges that he is about to face. Little wonder that it seems highly likely that his Existence Period is about to come crashing to a close.Once again Richard Ford’s writing is a marvel of density and light. He effortlessly draws the reader into claustrophobic inducing proximity to Frank’s mutable conscience and visceral encounter with his environment. Much of what we encounter here is remembered experience—a lot of ground has been covered between the end of The Sportswriter and the time of Independence Day. But how much of that reported experience is dependable? Frank is such a cocktail of conflicted emotions and aspirations overlaid with jaw-dropping rationalizations. A reader can’t help but begin to feel sorry for him (even if he isn’t especially likeable). You begin rooting for him to break the surface of his supposedly placid Existence Period even if doing so may destroy him.And break through he does, though not in any way he would have planned or wished. And change does look set to come to Deep River and to Haddam. Crazed homebuyers transform into peaceable renters. The literally barking mad are rendered merely speechless. And Frank looks hopefully toward his next period, which may, he tells himself, be his Permanent Period. Riveting reading. Highly recommended.

[wildmaggie · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A work of ideas and characters with little plot action. The dialog is stilted and weighed down with subtext. The narrator's internal dialog chews the same meatless bones over and over. It won a prestigious award and reads like it.

[ricksmoss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beginning with Lay of the Land, I'm reading the trilogy backwards. (Don't ask why.) I can't wait to see how it all started. Yes, as per other reviewers, Ford is excruciatingly, obsessively self-reflexive and I love it. I luxuriate in all the particulars; in his harrowingly accurate insights into middle age.The man can take four pages to decide to ring a doorbell. He writes the way we'd think if we allowed ourselves the time. Independence Day is so chock full of mundane wonders, I couldn't care less if nothing much transpires. When so many are "showing, not telling," Ford -- perhaps as well as anyone since Bellow -- is telling you everything you could possibly never want to know. Highly recommended, but only if you can relax with it, slurp up all the details and go back at it with a bit of bread to wipe up the last drops.

[nbsp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

reminds me of a kinder, gentler Updike

[gwendolyndawson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The second of a trilogy--the story of Frank Bascomb continues, this time during his "Existence Period." The book takes place over the 4th of July holiday weekend as Frank takes a road trip with his troubled son Paul. Frank's new "lady friend" Sally Caldwell is introduced with no real idea where the relationship will go. Frank continues to try to deal with his divorce from Ann, after seven long years and Ann's remarriage. This book isn't as good as the first in the trilogy--The Sportswriter--because it seems to be in a holding pattern or merely a precursor to a strong finish to the trilogy.

[whitewavedarling · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'll be the first to admit I had a hard time finishing this book. The story seemed incredibly drawn out, and the characters weren't all that engaging. For me, while I could appreciate the story and the writing, I simply couldn't help coming back to the fact that, in the end, I simply didn't care. I could have just as easily put the book down for months as for hours or days, and finishing quickly became a chore instead of a pleasure.

[niecierpek · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It is of the most American novels I have ever read in my life, and incredibly good at it, especially at describing small town America. I loved it that way, even though it made it a bit tedious for me from time to time- I don’t know a thing about baseball, for example, and am not really interested in basketball either. I felt like I was on one of my real life road trips across the States, met real small town people and overheard real conversations. They were so very real, so typical, and the exchanges so well observed and overheard that it all made me chuckle from time to time. It had quite a few interesting comments on writing, and life in general.

[mydomino1978 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book seems to be about how a boring man spends his 4th of July weekend, in every boring detail. I don't know how this won a Pulitzer, as this is the worst book I have read in a very long time. It was 400 pages of a minute by minute (practically) account of nothing and his incredibly boring thoughts behind the nothingness. Right up there in worst books ever read.

[piefuchs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The real time musings for a weekend in the life of a middle age realtor during his self proclaimed "existence period". The writing is beautiful; the main character is remarkably well developed - yet the highlights of the book are the short, almost throw away, tidbits on the human condition. His comments on real estate, on working, on parenting, on loving capture the essence and absurdity of life. There are two more books centered on Frank Bascombe - they are moving to the top of my TBR pile.

[jane27_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

read this a while ago - and will do so again I think, and have the new one. Also recently read a bundle of short stoies - bleaksville!!!!but wonderful.

[mensheviklibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent. Ford has a ear for the way white, middle aged men think and feel. But this is also a deeply philosophical novel that touches on some eternal themes (happiness, death, the meaning of life). There are some beautiful, stand alone passages and some very funny, satirical set pieces. A true tour de force.

[bobbieharv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I finally read this Pulitzer prize winner. I really liked the ruminative writing, the calm attention to setting all aspects of a scene, interiorly and exteriorly. I read it slowly and with interest till about the last 50 pages, when I finally got a little tired of noting really happening.

[smerus_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The best of this trilogy

[zojo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Second time I've read this - first time was as soon as I got it. Enjoyedit more the second time I think. It's quite a long read but he fits so much into a few short days and I'd love to know what happened next!