The Green Hour

Quite simply, one of the most beautiful books I've ever read. A heartbreaking and intellectually challenging novel about the complicated life of a fascinating woman, Dominique. A book for novel-lovers, art-lovers, and anyone with an interest in left wing politics as well. This books moves quickly and yet gives so much; a mother's love for a child, a woman's love for a man, art at the Prado, rebellious radical politics--it's all here. Eloquently written--words matter to this writer. I couldn't put it down. Not to be missed!

Tuten is a one of those jewels that people who are in the know hold dearly to themselves. The Green Hour is his finest novel to date, and that said, the rest of his work is wonderful and thought-provoking. Tuten's work, like the work of many of his more well known peers, (Philip Roth, John Updike, Doris Lessing) grows on itself, deepens, his form and style becoming more and more fluid, seemless, sure and just beautiful. He is a man who thinks words matter, that beauty matters, as well as art, love and political beliefs.The heroine of The Green Hour, Dominique, thinks that all those things matter, too. An art historian and academic, she embodies much of the idealism and ambivalence of those reaching adulthood during Vietnam. She loves a man named Rex, who, among other things, organizes labor strikes in Mexico. She loves the child left in his life by a Japanese anarchist heiress, Kenji. And she grows to love another man who eventually takes care of her, something she is loathe to admit she needs. Interspersed throughout the years of Dominique's life are profoud inquiries into the importance of all things--what matters in life? Who are we? These are the question Tuten poses, and he tells a beautiful story while probing the aches of our souls.