Ann Patchett's writing is magical. While I haven't unequivocally loved all of her novels (see Bel Canto and The Magician's Assistant, though these were still Very Good), I have found most of them to be brilliant, beautiful gems. Taft is up there with the best of them.
Taft is the story of John Nickel, a former drummer who now manages a bar on Beale Street. He has a nine-year-old son, Franklin, who has moved to Miami with his mother Marian. Nickel hires a young waitress named Fay Taft, whose life (and that of her brother Carl) quickly gets tangled up with Nickel's. And there's a parallel story running through it all: Fay and Carl growing up back east, out in Coalfield, before the sudden and unexpected death of their father.
So have I done it? Have I really read them all? Well, apparently Ann Patchett collaborated on a book called Nashville: Scenes from the New American South, which (although it was published in 2018) I only heard about for the first time about ten minutes ago. I'll probably end up reading that someday, just because I can't not, but for today I'll give myself a pass so she can be in The Club. I'll just change it from "I've Read All Of Her Books" to "I've Read All Of Her Novels."
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This is the first time I am hearing about Taft. It has managed to slip past me. I do love Patchett most of the time. Bel Canto was a DNF for me and didn't she write Run as well? Didn't care for that one. I'd read Taft though.
It's too bad Bel Canto was a DNF for you . . . I was kind of meh about it until the last 20 pages! At which time it became brilliant and beautiful. I have no idea how that happened. It wasn't even a plot twist. But it's a prime example of why I find DNF impossible . . . 1) I HAVE to know what happens and 2) what if it gets good??
Yes! Patchett also wrote Run--I think that was the first book of hers that I read, and I really liked it, although it wasn't a Must Read.
For me, where Patchett really shines is in her non-fiction essays!!
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