Independence Day

INDEPENDENCE DAY
by Richard Ford

Awards: PEN/Faulkner Winner 1996, Pulitzer Winner 1996

Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1997, National Book Critics Circle 1995, NY Times Finalist 1995

Dates Read: February 21, 2009 & July 22, 2020

In Independence Day, we see Frank Bascombe move from his "Fugue Period" to his "Existence Period." Yet, he still remains for me the shallowest deep character I've ever encountered.

For all his attempts to "be", Frank still maintains a laissez-faire attitude about his relationships, just letting them play out how they will. He fluctuates from minute-to-minute ready to jump in with both feet to rationalizing why the relationship is doomed to failure. The hardest part is watching this behavior with his son.

Frank has such a hard time being real with his son, Paul. They use humor and innuendo to communicate but cannot lay their feelings bare. I think Paul is hungering for real human connection and wants to relate to his father about the difficulties in becoming a person but Frank is just not receptive. Instead he lingers in fraught silences and wishes he were alone again then vacillates to fantasizing about his son coming to live with him. Either way, Paul clearly deserves more.

As this novel is set in the late 80's, as Frank reaches his mid-forties, the racism described here is gut-wrenching to read. The way Frank and Joe, his realty client, discuss the "black" part of town makes me want to punch both of them in their faces. BLM.

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