The Gambler's Nephew

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Overview

"Jack Matthews’ first novel, Hanger Stout, Awake!, was published in 1967, and his latest, The Gambler’s Nephew, is already the 23rd in his half-century career. Thankfully it’s never too late to discover a writer this pleasant to read."—Claire Blechman, Ploughshares

"There's so much to delight a reader in local author Jack Matthews' new novel, The Gambler's Nephew, it's hard to know where to start. Probably with the prose, which Matthews writes with easy, lyrical grace and a bulls-eye wit."—Jim Phillips, The Athens News

"Jack Matthews is an American original."--William Heyen

Years ago, way back in the l850s, there was a ...

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More About This Book

Overview

"Jack Matthews’ first novel, Hanger Stout, Awake!, was published in 1967, and his latest, The Gambler’s Nephew, is already the 23rd in his half-century career. Thankfully it’s never too late to discover a writer this pleasant to read."—Claire Blechman, Ploughshares

"There's so much to delight a reader in local author Jack Matthews' new novel, The Gambler's Nephew, it's hard to know where to start. Probably with the prose, which Matthews writes with easy, lyrical grace and a bulls-eye wit."—Jim Phillips, The Athens News

"Jack Matthews is an American original."--William Heyen

Years ago, way back in the l850s, there was a wealthy merchant in the little Ohio River town of Brackenport by name of Nehemiah Dawes who got to brooding over slavery and grave robbing so much that his mind became unbalanced.

The Gambler's Nephew presents a world of abolitionist passion, murder, and old-fashioned cussedness, a world of steamboats plying the Ohio River, and a world with people troubled by such grand irrelevancies as love. Here is a world as richly confused as our own—and as alive as living can get.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780981968773
  • Publisher: Etruscan Press
  • Publication date: 6/28/2011
  • Pages: 270
  • Sales rank: 834,079
  • Product dimensions: 6.00 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Meet the Author

Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1925, Jack Matthews served in the Coast Guard at the end of World War II, then attended Ohio State University. Having taught for close to 50 years, he is now Distinguished Professor at Ohio University in Athens. His awards include the Florence Roberts Head award, Quill award, Ohio Arts Council award, and a Guggenheim grant. He is the author of more than a dozen books of fiction (novels and short stories), poetry, essays, and nonfiction, many of them set in Ohio.

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  • Posted September 8, 2011

    Recommmended if you like Twain, William Kennedy, Bellow, Gardner's "Grendel" or pre-Civil War USA

    I am a fan of this taut and brooding novel about 19th century America. It centers around the accidental killing of a slave by an abolitionist while trying to save him and a murder that occurs as a consequence. Matthews has tackled historical subjects before. His story collection Tales of an Ohio Land dramatizes historical events while his earlier novel, Sassafras, depicts a phrenologist who travels along the wild frontier in the 19th century. Unlike the allegorical and satirical Sassafras, Gambler tackles more social and ethical issues, depicting 19th century morality in ways that would make the modern reader squeamish. Matthews doesn't pass judgment on beliefs and superstitions which might seem repugnant to the the modern reader. Instead Gambler's Nephew shows how people lived with such beliefs while still professing themselves to be religious and upstanding. Reading this book, one can't help wondering what aspects of our behavior will seem barbaric to future generations. I've always enjoyed the short fiction of Jack Matthews, and I'm happy to report that this novel is profound without being ponderous. It's also a fast read. Even though the action turns around the abolitionist and his brother, neither has much actual "stage time." Instead the novel is populated with servants, jailers, steamboat captains and slaves. The last third of the novel centers around the journals of Lysander Crenshaw, the "upright" slave owner whose slave was accidentally killed by Dawes. This part is slower and more deliberative (a contrast to the rapid pace of Books One and Two). The key thing, I think, is recognizing the parallels between Nehemiah the abolitionist and the slave owner; both were guided by moral impulses and both were troubled by the guilt of their decisions. Here are three things I like about this novel. First, a lot of characters are rounded out and treated with sympathy and dignity. There are no villains here: only wounded or misguided people. Second, despite the book's tragic dimension, there is also a lot of humor: in the dialogue, in the casual observations, in the character descriptions. (I particularly recommend the prison scene where a condemned prisoner named Biddle attempts to bribe his jailer for some alcohol - a scene which is both horrifying and hilarious). Each chapter expands the story by introducing a new character; at the end, the reader has traveled all the way back to the slave owner's plantation during the slave's escape . and stumbled upon surprises along the way. Finally, the book is littered with quips and diction and one liners which enliven every page. Example: "Two month old puppies chase their own tails; we don't have tails to chase, so we chase imponderable questions." SUMMARY:A highly readable and historically accurate story about how an accidental killing of a slave in 19th century USA affects various families and communities. A old-fashioned yarn told with cunning and irony.

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