Falconer

no comment

This is the odd and fully compelling story of an upper class privileged man who becomes a murderer and drug addict and is sent to prison. The novel is perfectly balanced between action within the prison and multiple flashbacks of the life of Farragut, a rebel college professor with a dysfunctional family of origin. Some might say it is a prison novel but Cheever weaves a masterful tale that takes us back into the past and then pulls us into the present behind the bars of Falconer prison. There may also be those who would say this is a gay novel for in prison Farragut has a romantic love affair with another married man. But this misses the point that Cheever is trying to make regarding the flexibility of the human condition, the ability to fall in love with those of the same gender or opposite gender, and the way conditions, situations, loneliness and isolation can impact human desire and need. The characters in Farragut's past are as colorful and entertaining as the odd crowd he meets behind bars giving us the impression that not all nuts are locked up behind bars. Prison is depicted here as a community of sorts with its own norms, values, and power structure. We don't get a contemporary vision of prison from this novel, which would include racial and ethnic warfare, man on man rape, and violence. Cheever is masterful in his narrative flow which allows us to gradually glimpse into the mind and memory of Farragut and understand his mother, father, older brother, wife, and son. These relationships, sometimes fulfilling and sometimes barren, have helped create the man. We gradually understand Farragut but Cheever never tries to make us like Farragut or take his side against the world. The book is so well written that I flew through it in 6 hours, enjoying the work of a modern literary master.

Creepy and disturbing. Falconer is the master of understated tension. In spite of the dreary subject matter, Falconer shows that even in the worst conditions one can find some form of compassion.

I bought this novel almost by accident. I decided to buy and read the novel because it is a Penguin Classic and I had not read any of Cheever's other works, although I had read one short story by him. This is a short novel, or a long novella less than 160 pages. It follows part of the life of a man in prison. The novel is more than just a prison novel; but saying that, it is a prison novel about men, their fantasies, their wants, their values, and tales of men having sex with other men in prison. If you do not want to read about men having sex in prison, then skip the book. "Falconer" is the story of one man's struggle with himself in a prison. It describes his outside family, his fellow inmates, and the affair that he develops in prison. It describes his inner turmoil and motivations. I did not find Farragut - the protagonist of the tale - to be a sympathetic personality in any fashion. One can understand him, but sympathy is a different matter. Values in life can be described as moral relativism with no absolute rights and wrongs but here the protagonist makes many decisions for short term gratification with dire long term consequences. This isolated him from society, and of course many people live in isolation and in different ways so the book has a more universal resonance. The book was superbly written, and one can appreciate Saul Bellow's kind words about the book and its author which appears on the book jacket. The prose and the structure show the obvious skill of Cheever. It is difficult to give the book anything less than 5 stars.

More than just a prison novel. More than just a Cheever novel. This book transcends genre and defies catagorization. "Falconer" is the absolutely gripping story of one man's struggle with himself in an environment more brutal than you can imagine. By that, I mean emotional and spiritual brutality as much as physical brutality.The book allows us to enter Farragut's life so completely and understand the motivations that drive his decisions. We can identify with his struggles, even his drug addiction, which he feels is "a beautiful illustration of the bounds of his mortality." We yearn for his redemption, but we fear he may never achieve it. This is truly a profound and moving novel.

. . . and I agree! As implausible as it sounds, Cheever achieved literary greatness in a prison novel with its central character a college professor and murderer who is also a heroin addict and a guilty, closeted homosexual. "Oh Farragut, Farragut, why is you an addict?" asks his guard, and through flashback and reminiscence we learn how and why. One of those rare books that takes place largely in the mind but is truly gripping--and the Attica-like prison Farragut is confined to holds a few surprises of its own. It is hard to overpraise "Falconer." Honestly, if you don't like this book you don't like modern American fiction.