<![CDATA[The Reserve]]>

false <![CDATA[The Reserve]]> 1896247 8 Part love story, part murder mystery, set on the cusp of the Second World War, Russell Banks's sharp-witted and deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness—and explores what happens when two powerful personalities, trapped at opposite ends of a social divide, begin to break the rules. Twenty-nine-year-old Vanessa Cole is a wild, stunningly beautiful heiress, the adopted only child of a highly regarded New York brain surgeon and his socialite wife. Twice married, Vanessa has been scandalously linked to any number of rich and famous men. But on the night of July 4, 1936, at her parents' country home in a remote Adirondack Mountain enclave known as The Reserve, two events coincide to permanently alter the course of Vanessa's callow life: her father dies suddenly of a heart attack, and a mysteriously seductive local artist, Jordan Groves, blithely lands his Waco biplane in the pristine waters of the forbidden Upper Lake. . . . Jordan's reputation has preceded him; he is internationally known as much for his exploits and conquests as for his paintings themselves, and, here in the midst of the Great Depression, his leftist loyalties seem suspiciously undercut by his wealth and elite clientele. But for all his worldly swagger, Jordan is as staggered by Vanessa's beauty and charm as she is by his defiant independence. He falls easy prey to her electrifying personality, but it is not long before he discovers that the heiress carries a dark, deeply scarring family secret. Emotionally unstable from the start, and further unhinged by her father's unexpected death, Vanessa begins to spin wildly out of control, manipulating and destroying the lives of all who cross her path. Moving from the secluded beauty of the Adirondack wilderness to the skies above war-torn Spain and Fascist Germany, The Reserve is a clever, incisive, and passionately romantic novel of suspense that adds a new dimension to this acclaimed author's extraordinary repertoire. 1897813 1 2 2008 The Reserve total:517|5:1|4:5|3:5|2:9|1:2| 517 1542 846 191 1 5 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 03 21:02:42 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 21:03:45 -0800 2009 2 1 false false Sun Mar 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 10:43:56 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 09:07:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Jul 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 08:38:40 -0700 2008 Thu May 28 10:23:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 08:47:45 -0800 2008 Sat Mar 01 08:50:52 -0800 2008 The Sweet Hereafter"), a writer with a simple style filled with calm authority and devastating conclusions that kind of sneak ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Feb 26 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 11:20:43 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 11:35:41 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat May 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 17 09:34:24 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 09:34:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Nov 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 16 00:12:22 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 00:20:49 -0800 2009
Finding the book fo...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 19:42:14 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 10:49:51 -0700 2009 I don't quite know why I wasn't able to give this a more enthusiastic review. The characters are interesting, the plot is inherently dramatic, I like this period of history, you had a dash of Spanish Civil War and the Hindenburg thrown in, there were family and class conflicts.

And ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 11:29:40 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 17:32:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 08:11:22 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 30 04:30:12 -0700 2009 The kindest word to describe this book is sophomoric. B...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 26 07:34:19 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 26 07:38:21 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Apr 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 20:08:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 20:13:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 17:34:41 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 17:58:12 -0700 2009 The Reserve isn’t the book I’d recommend to a friend wanting to see what this author has to offer.

As I read, I couldn’t help but think of Hemingway, but not only because Banks seems to ground his Jordan Graves as an artistic composite ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 17:52:12 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 17:21:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:55:48 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:55:48 -0800 2009 Though Pulitzer Prize��_�"winning Russell Banks made his name writing about the down-and-out, blue-collar side of Adirondack society (The Sweet Hereafter, Cloudsplitter), The Reserve represents a rare foray into chronicling the lifestyles of the rich and morally depraved. Inspiration for the n...

more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Jul 06 02:03:03 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 06 02:03:58 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Sun May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 21:30:34 -0700 2009 Sun May 10 21:30:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 12:27:05 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 09:45:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 22 21:04:37 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 21:05:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 12 06:45:26 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 14 06:24:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1896247