by Paul Auster
First published 1991
Jim Nashe inherits money and abandons his Boston life to drive aimlessly across America. He burns through his windfall until he meets Jack Pozzi, a hot-tempered gambler with a scheme. Pozzi convinces Nashe to bankroll a high-stakes poker game against two wealthy eccentrics. They lose spectacularly. Unable to pay their debt, Nashe and Pozzi become indentured laborers on their creditors' Pennsylvania estate. The winners force them to construct a wall using medieval stones. As Nashe hauls rocks under the summer sun, he grapples with how his search for freedom led to this peculiar captivity. The wall grows higher each day while Nashe's relationship with the volatile Pozzi deteriorates. Trapped in this surreal punishment, Nashe must decide whether to accept his fate or fight for escape.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, gritty
Setting: Boston, America, Pennsylvania
Period: 20th-century
Hardcover · Faber Faber Inc