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Back to Wando Passo: A Novel
by
David Payne
Hailed as "the most gifted American novelist of his generation" (Boston Globe), David Payne introduces us to Ransom Hill, a big-hearted, wild-man lead singer of a legendary indie rock group, who has come to South Carolina determined to save his marriage, his family, and himself. But back at Wando Passo, his wife's inherited family estate, things don't proceed according to...more
Paperback, 464 pages
Published
May 29th 2007
by Harper Perennial
(first published May 23rd 2006)
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I borrowed this audiobook from the library. I am not enjoying it at all but continue to torture myself by refusing to shut the darn thing off until the last word is read. It's about a selfish, self-absorbed, washed-up, bigoted man who returns home to Wando Passo (his estranged wife's family estate) after he has the epiphany that he still loves his wife. In reality, I think he just didn't know what else to do and had run out of willing women to bed. For some bizarre reason she takes him back even...more
Read this book several years ago when I got it on loan from the local public library. I'd really like to get a copy of Back to Wando Passo for my personal collection.
I remember loving the book and being unable to put it down as the mystery unfolded in the past and the present.
When I re-read Back to Wando Passo, I will write a more complete review.
I remember loving the book and being unable to put it down as the mystery unfolded in the past and the present.
When I re-read Back to Wando Passo, I will write a more complete review.
This books fits my usually fun theme of two stories told on a subject across the centuries. While parts were certainly interesting, this was more fluff than substance and I wouldn't necessarily recomment it.
This is the second book I've read by Payne. I loved it just as much as the first. The chapters switched off between present day and the Civil War following the lives of two families trying to make a life on the Wando Passo plantation. The way Payne weaves the tail of the two worlds leaves you guessing until the very end. Is it a voudou curse or is Ran just plain crazy?
L'édition française...
Pas de la grande littérature, mais du plaisir à le lire
J'avais lu d'autres livres du même auteur qui m'avaient beaucoup plu.. Mais je me souviens pas de la qualité de l'écriture pour ces précédents..
Pas de la grande littérature, mais du plaisir à le lire
J'avais lu d'autres livres du même auteur qui m'avaient beaucoup plu.. Mais je me souviens pas de la qualité de l'écriture pour ces précédents..
Not bad...a little confusing at times but deliberately so, I believe, since the protagonist is a person with bipolar disorder who is not taking their meds. There is a parallel plot from a different time period which I found more interesting than the one set in modern day. It took a while to "get into" this book but, once I did, I found it fairly gripping. 3 stars.
What started off as an interesting gothic tinged mystery fizzled out before the end. A disappointing read.
Double mystery, one present day and the other through the civil war - interesting characters, atmospheric Charleston rice plantation, Cuban witchcraft, strong slavery/racial involvement and altogether a pretty wild ride. Try it!
This was a well written story, but it got confusing at times. I believe there are ghosts but the storyline got a little far-fetched when it tried to say a character in the present was "acting" just like a character that lived 150 years earlier. I was very confused by the ending.
This story is split into two parts: 1) modern time with the story of a has-been rock star who follows his estranged wife and kids to her childhood estate in the South and 2) the people/slaves who worked the estate when it was a plantation in the 1860s. The 1860s part of the story is much more interesting and the characters have much more to say.
This is one of the worst books I have ever read.
I finally gave up on this book. I liked the premise: the aging rock star trying to turn his life and marriage around, and the civil war story interspersed with the modern story, but I just couldn't get into it. There are too many books out there to spend time reading something I don't like.
David Payne is a master of language and dialogue; i adore him. A novel about the connection between history and the present; deals with racism, sexism, infidelity, first loves, fame, mental illness, magic, death, rebirth.
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fairly fun but can be a bit trite. i like the double stories that interrelate (kind of like possession). the writing isn't the best though, and i'd have to say that possession is a much better read.
This is a great read, especially so if you are familiar with Charleston. It switches between life during the Civil War and current times, following the lives of several families.
It's been awhile, but from what I can recall, this is a very good book.. I am excited to re-read!
Hard not to like, but equally hard to love.
Gothic melodrama. Southern lit. Fairly overblown.
He is no Pat Conroy for sure.
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