Panama

by Thomas McGuane

Book Overview

Thomas McGuane has made Panama a high-wire act of extravagant emotion and steel-nerved prose. As he haunts Key West, pestering family, threatening a potential in-law with a .38, and attempting to crucify himself on his ex's door out of sheer lovesickness, Chester emerges as the pure archetype of the McGuane hero. Out of his struggle to rejoin the human race--and the imminent possibility that he may die trying--McGuane has fashioned a harrowing and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140052747
• ISBN13: 9780140052749
• Release Date: November 1979
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"

Customer Reviews

A charmer!

A stellar effort for Zancey's debut. Taking place in 1892 the story is a mixture of fact and fiction. Henry Adams is an American historian whose descendants include two U.S. presidents. He becomes fascinated with the story surrounding the Panama Affair which is where the French royally messed up the building of the Panama Canal due to poor planning and widespread corruption among government officials. While in Paris a woman is pulled from the Seine named Miriam Talbot. This is someone Adams has befriended a couple of months previously and he goes to identify the body. It's not her but she has gone missing. He then starts his own amateurish investigation. We then get to see the quirkiness of his character and the humourous and uncomfortable situations he gets himself into. We get wonderful descriptions of Paris circa 1892 and meet some wonderful characters on both sides of the law. We get into the beginnings of forensic science and become acquainted with power hungry French politicians such as Loubet, Delahaye and Clemenceau. Adams is constantly at odds with himself also. Why is he pursueing this dangerous escapade? Is it for adventure and to fill the void of his wife Clover's suicide seven years ago? He observes the encroachment of the industrial age and wonders if it is destroying man's moral fibre. Overall the story is so vivid, each conversation and confrontation can be clearly imagined. It's not a page turning suspense thriller but it is a rich experience that leaves you feeling very satisfied. Stick with it through the first 50-60 pages and you will be generously rewarded. A charming, intelligent read.

An entertaining historical mystery

I read this book several months ago and so I don't remember all the details of it. I do remember that it was a very enjoyable read. The plot is very clever and complex, the characters are interesting and well defined, and there is some action and suspense in some parts. The best thing about this book is its atmosphere; you really feel transported to late nineteenth century Paris. I wouldn't say that it was an outstanding novel, but it definately deserves a lot more than the one star some reviewers gave it.

My favorite novel

Not the best novel I've ever read, surely. Probably not even the best novel Thomas McGuane ever wrote. But it's definitely my favorite. It's hilarious and awful, with its elliptical, toothless, and wildly unreliable screaming-misfit narrator careening pitiably through what might be a midlife crisis if we had any confidence that he was going to make it to 50. (It's a major win for Chet Pomeroy when he finally remembers his dog's name.)The dialogue is so spare that in my first hurried read through the book I could hardly understand what the characters were saying to each other. Now huge hunks of it are in my memory. ("I have a friend who owes you a minimum of a lawsuit." "That's a very silky opening," says the agent, "but I'm always being sued.")This is a very, very funny book, even when it is also being poignant and awful. I just love it.

I got my Great Balls on fire with Panama (review in french).

Chester Hunnicutt Pomeroy est un héros des temps modernes comme notre époque n'en produit plus. Il est cocaïnomane et enlève ses dents pour un rien, il se cloue à la porte de son ex avec un marteau en forme de "colt de Jesse James" et déblatère à tout va - Contrairement à la croyance populaire, la Grande Ourse n'est pas morte dans un accident d'avion avec Buddy Holly - Les papes Borgia avaient un téléphone dans chaque pièce. Les mots, Chet, surveille les mots - lui conseille Catherine, son ex-épouse. Les mots, c'est la force de Mc Guane - j'avais l'impression que la nuit avait rempli un chèque que le jour ne pourrait pas encaisser - une force qui balaie tout sur son passage. Et, de toute l'ouvre de Mc Guane, c'est Panama qui fait la part belle à la poésie. Quant à ce héros - élu plus "grand pervers dépravé d'Amérique" - il ressemble surtout à un quidam quelconque habité par une soif de burlesque et d'absurde. Et de poésie sauvage, échevelée. Ce gars-là a une espèce d'aura que ni son amnésie, ni son inclinaison au vice n'arrivent à entâcher, comme si une lessive surnaturelle lui lavait le coeur de sa propre boue. Il peut se rouler dans le ridicule, l'urine, Marceline et la contrition tour à tour, rien ne retranche à cette fascination qu'il exerce sur le lecteur.

An excellent literary thriller.

As you will see from many of the customer reviews, this historical thriller is not a purely plot-driven page-turner, a la Robert Ludlum or Ken Follett. If that is what you are looking for, you will be disappointed. Rather, the author takes the time (and, yes, forces the reader to do so) setting a mood, at the same time capturing the spirit of the age and the tormented inner spirit of the protagonist (Henry Adams). This is first and foremost a book about Adams' emotional recovery, so, no, it is not as fast-paced and action-packed as The Alienist. (I liked both books very much, but they are different--perhaps the marketers are at fault for raising false expectations.) But, so long as you are willing to savor a mood, and to arrive slowly at your destination, this is an excellent read.