A Piece of My Heart

By Richard Ford

Robard Hewes has driven across the country in search of a woman named Buena who, twelve years ago, infused him with a feeling that has now turned into obsession. Sam Newel has travelled from Chicago seeking the missing piece of himself. They both find themselves on an uncharted hunting island in the Mississippi owned by an old man named Lamb. When these men converge on this strange land, each discovers the thing he's looking for yet triggers a conflagration of inevitable violence in this tense and brutal yet moving tale.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Jun 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781408835074

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 A Piece of My Heart

[lovinglit · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was Ford's first novel. It is fairly amazing.Once I finished the book, I read the back-flap description, and what I read surprised me a little. Yes, I could see how it all fitted together, but I took more "people" and "place" from the novel than I did plot. Even though I wasn't following the plot with bated breath, I was devouring the words and their incredible ability to take me into people's lives. Right into peoples lives.Ford manages this through both dialogue that is subtle yet so revealing, and also though descriptions. Descriptions of peoples expressions, of the landscape, of their thoughts. You get to a point where he describes a characters expression, and you just know what they are thinking. This guy is a genius. And this book was, for me, about enjoying the journey. Which I did.

[sianpr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Unfortunately none of the characters in this sharply observed novel are at all likeable and the uncritical sexism and racism is hard to take. This is a shame as there is no doubt that Ford is a good story teller.

[ireadthereforeiam · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was Ford's first novel. It is fairly amazing.Once I finished the book, I read the back-flap description, and what I read surprised me a little. Yes, I could see how it all fitted together, but I took more "people" and "place" from the novel than I did plot. Even though I wasn't following the plot with bated breath, I was devouring the words and their incredible ability to take me into people's lives. Right into peoples lives.Ford manages this through both dialogue that is subtle yet so revealing, and also though descriptions. Descriptions of peoples expressions, of the landscape, of their thoughts. You get to a point where he describes a characters expression, and you just know what they are thinking. This guy is a genius. And this book was, for me, about enjoying the journey. Which I did.