Fields of Asphodel

By Tito Perdue

Book Overview

After a life of misdemeanors, Lee had hoped that death would bring an end to things; instead, he awakens into a very bad place full of cold weather, strange tortures, and some of history s most hapless people. His one consolation An opportunity to chase down his beloved wife who had preceded him in death a few years before he had contrived his own.Equipped with his walking cane, a book of matches, a pair of pretty good shoes, and a tourist brochure, he makes slow progress through a landscape that bears an uncanny resemblance to the America that he thought he had left behind.Perdue has been compared to writers from Faulkner to Beckett, and in Fields of Asphodel we are reintroduced to one of our true literary talents and to Leland Pefley, a truly powerful fictional creation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585678716
• ISBN13: 9781585678716
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Stranger than strange!

Fields of Asphodel is the most recent installment in Perdue's cycle of novels detailing the adventures of one Leland (Lee) Pefley, a problematic southerner whose nostalgia for the 1950s and 60s and abhorrence of modernity have established this writer as one of the most astringent critics of present-day American life. This book, following in the trajectory of Lee (1991), The New Austerities (1994), and The Sweet-Scented Manuscript (2004) examines the protagonist's ordeals and, finally, his absolution in the hellish place to which he is assigned following his death at the end of Lee.Opportunities in Alabama Agriculture: A Novel The New Austerities The Sweet-Scented Manuscript The quality of Perdue's prose has been noted by others, and it remains only to say that in Fields he has lived up to the standard set in his earlier work. The plot itself is inventive and frightening, and represents a unique mixture of realism with fantasy. Not just another generic novel in search of medium grade readers, Perdue's new book is stranger than strange and comes to us from a very strange place.

Spectacular entertainment!

In FIELDS OF ASPHODEL, Tito Perdue picks up Lee Pefley where he left him at the end of LEE, dead. He then goes on to describe his curmudgeonly character searching through the afterlife for the wife who predeceased him. Along the way he is subjected to the things he hated while alive: cold weather, crowds, and some extremely unpleasant tortures. As harsh, jarring and outrageous as some of the torments Perdue inflicts on these dwellers of Lee's Purgatory, the book is quite witty and pointed - funny actually. A fine extension of the Lee series. Anyone who enjoyed Lee will love this one. Opportunities in Alabama Agriculture: A Novel Lee: A Novel The New Austerities The Sweet-Scented Manuscript

Wonderful Followup!

I read Tito Perdue's LEE some years ago and was fascinated with the character of Lee Pefley, which is both malicious, sympathetic, and funny. When I saw that his new book, FIELDS OF ASPHODEL, picked up where LEE leaves off, I couldn't resist. I had to see what misadventures would befall the Lee after his death. I was not disappointed. This is another beautifully written book, which describes the trials and tribulations of Lee Pefley as he wanders through the afterlife searching for the wife who predeceased him. Perdue portrays the characters and scenes Lee encounters with his usual wit and humor. The finale moved me to tears, but I won't reveal it here. This is a charming, disturbing, but always well-written story. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the novels of Cormac McCarthy. Lee

dark, brutal, and hilarious

With "Fields of Asphodel" Tito Perdue has done it again, following up his terrific "Lee" with another extremely dark, extremely funny book. In "Fields," Lee Pefley, who dies in the eponymous "Lee," comes to find himself in the afterworld - a place not unlike the earth he's just left, only colder. This makes perfect sense, of course, as Lee probably belongs in a fairly unpleasant place, given his behavior while living, and his afterworld pretty much sees and raises his unfavorable view of earth. Although Lee does get some enjoyment as a spectator of the punishments inflicted on some of those he himself feels deserving of punishment. As in "Lee," Perdue manages to make dark subject matter very funny. But there is an almost impossible-seeming sweet streak in his character Lee, and that is his love for and yearning for his deceased wife Judy, who Lee searches for with little hope of finding - after all, she was a much better person than he was; she will surely be on a higher plane, and she also had a good head start. The emotional uplift that concludes this tale is nothing short of magic, achievable only by an incredibly talented writer. If you have never read Tito Perdue, read "Lee" first. "Fields of Asphodel" is a fine dessert!!