Get ready for an evening with internationally acclaimed\, bestselling \; and award win ning author Patrick deWitt as he discusses his most recent release\, \ ;Dodge City\, a rollicking novel about a young man in 1 967 on an amphetamine-fueled cross-country road trip\, fleeing the draft f or the safe haven of Canada. \;
\nBooks will be available for pu rchase\, and a signing will follow the event.
\nPresented in partner ship with Words Worth Books.
\nFrom bestselling author Patrick deWitt comes Dodge City\, \;a rollick ing novel about a young man on an amphetamine-fueled cross-country road tr ip\, fleeing the draft for the safe haven of Canada.
\nIt&rsquo\;s 1 967 in Los Angeles and Lee Clarke has received his draft notice\, calling him up to fight in the Vietnam War. A straitlaced\, apolitical twenty-thre e-year-old from Concrete\, Washington\, Lee is studying at UCLA until a fi stfight leads to his expulsion&mdash\;and his removal from the deferment l ist. The draft notice forces him to make the first political decision of h is life\, and though he&rsquo\;s happy in California and loves his girlfri end\, he will leave the country and head for the border.
\nHe signs up at a drive-away car-delivery service\, chancing into a showroom-new Jag uar bound for the East Coast. Bringing only a single suitcase and a bag of amphetamines\, he makes his stimulated progress against the width of the country\, pining for the life he&rsquo\;s left behind and wondering what h is decision will mean for his future.
\nBut he is not just saying go odbye to the country of his birth. In four different towns strung out alon g the northern United States\, Lee visits each member of his immediate fam ily: his father\, a World War II veteran in a state of degradation\; his m other\, engaged in a buoyantly manic and never-ending performance with her shut-in sibling\; his heartbroken\, misanthropic brother\, Harry\; and fi nally his twin sister\, Grace\, a brash\, young nurse-in-training mired in romantic drama at a Manhattan psychiatric hospital.
\nAn arresting portrait of a country in flux and a family in disarray\, Dodge City \; represents a signal achievement in an already illustrious body of work by the &ldquo\;twenty-first-century Mark Twain&rdquo\; (Slate). Witty\, movin g\, and delightfully off-kilter\, Patrick deWitt&rsquo\;s sixth novel is a brilliant and raucous exploration of family\, country\, division\, and wa r\, from an elegant humorist who never shies from the stranger aspects of human behavior.
\nPatrick deWitt is t he author of the novels The Librarianist \;(an instant #1 nat ional bestseller and winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humo ur)\, French Exit \;(an international bestseller and a finali st for the Scotiabank Giller Prize)\, The Sisters Brothers (winne r of the Governor General&rsquo\;s Literary Award for Fiction\, the Atwood Gibson Writers&rsquo\; Trust Fiction Prize\, the Leacock Medal for Humour \, and a finalist for the Booker Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize)\, and the critically acclaimed Undermajordomo Minor and Ablutio ns. Born in British Columbia\, he now resides in Portland\, Oregon.\n
Photography Notice: Please note that photo graphs and videos may be taken at this event and may be broadcast\, reprod uced\, and/or made available in print or online. For individual or small g roup photos\, staff will make attendees aware of their presence and will a sk permission before taking photos. \;
\nFor larger public event s\, please note that by attending\, you are consenting to the use of your appearance\, image\, and voice in print or digital productions created by the Waterloo Public Library for promotional use only. Please speak to libr ary staff at the event if you&rsquo\;d like to be excluded from any photo/ video. \;
\nStaff: Nancy
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