This Side of Jordan

by Monte Schulz

Monte Schulz's prose novel opens in the spring of 1929, as the 19-year-old consumptive farm boy Alvin Pendergast attends an ill-fated dance marathon he's too sickly to participate in. After a year of his life has been stolen by a sanitarium, Alvin knows he's relapsing, and dreads not only the drudgery of his family's homestead, but a return to the hospital. In this state of mind, an invitation for a late-night slice of pie is too seductive to pass...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1606992961
• ISBN13: 9781606992968
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 13 to 16 years
• Grade Range: Grades 8 to 11

Customer Reviews

A gorgeous, sordid novel.

It's 1929 and Alvin, a hardheaded farmboy fleeing the inevitability of a tuberculosis relapse, finds himself on the road with a charming killer and a verbose man of indeterminate age and very small stature. His adventures take a grim turn, and he is forced to reckon with his own failings as he tries to free himself from a life of crime and his own fear. The only American writer I can compare this to is Flannery O'Connor, though her work is more pared and concise. And I certainly don't think this is a book for everyone. It's dense, challenging, hilarious and horrifying. But its beautiful writing will keep your eyes moving, your head full, your hands turning the pages through dance marathons, Pentecostal church services, small towns, robberies, seances and above all, the wonders of the circus. I understand that this is the first in a trilogy, and can't wait to read the next.

Charismatic American Novel

With the lyricism of Truman Capote, the adventuresome writing of Mark Twain and the original characters of John Irving, Monte Schulz has written a tapestry of American Life before the crash of 1929. Mr. Schulz is the son of cartoonist Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts. Alvin Prendergast, 19 years old, suffers from consumption (tuberculosis) and after being treated in a sanitarium, he is now home but can feel his illness is recurring and he does not want to return to the hospital where he feels he will meet his own death and see more deaths of children. He is lured by Chester, a dangerous gangster whom he meets at a dance marathon, to join him for a meal which turns out to be the beginning of perilous exploits. Schulz refers to Alvin as the farm boy interchangeably, which constantly reminds the reader that Alvin is from a farm where hard work, absence of up to date innovations and no nonsense is the agenda. Along the way, a third character joins Chester and Alvin. This is Rascal, a dwarf, who is pompous and overbearing. He is also verbose and sometimes eloquent. Chester involves these two in murderous robberies preying on innocent and often upstanding citizens. We are moved through rural America to urban areas which represent the Depression years of changing times. Chester, the gangster from Chicago (always seems to be Chicago!), is a con man supreme with apparently no conscience or regrets. He represents evil, the other side of redemption. The feisty dwarf and our consumptive Alvin find a place in the reader's heart as they try to reverse their destiny. This novel is filled with sadness; Alvin's family never seems to understand his physical suffering and many other characters, who succumb to the charms of Chester, represent the innocence of America at a crossroads. This is an outstanding, literary novel, and I highly recommend it.

Amazing Tale of The Jazz Age

'All that glitters is not gold and all that's mysterious is not ghosts in this world of wonders.' - Rascal - This Side of Jordan. This Side of Jordan by Monte Schulz is a masterpiece. I forgot I was reading a book and became completely entranced by the writings and the story in this book. The setting takes place before the Great Depression but it is still in a time of trial with the hard work and rough way of life in the late 1920's. 'This Side of Jordan,' is ripe with atmosphere: dusty roads and small towns, characters good and bad that you'll love or despise. You'll certainly become emmersed in the grand writing and descriptions set out before you as you read. Alvin is a comsumptive young man who wants to avoid another stay at the sanitarium where he'd spent a fearful year of his life living among those like himself struck with tubuculosis. At a crossroad of indescision he sets off across the river with someone he probably would have later chosen to avoid but goes nonetheless and gets himself knee deep into trouble. Along the way he meets Rascal - one of the most amazing characters I have encountered in my world of books. The three set forth across the South in one heck of an adventure. I have lived in the South and found it as magical and lyrical as described in this book, as lively and depressing and enchanting and shattering as Monte has set pen to paper to describe. Granted this story takes place in another age and this makes the story even better. There are many branches to the story and it's a lot like looking into a prism; there are glimmers and colors, smells and moods, blossoms and backroads and shadow and light much like in a painting you'd like to just sit and study and absorb. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading Carson McCullers, Cormac McCarthy, John Kennedy Toole, Flannery O'Connor or early Capote - writers such as these who capture so completely and deftly the tales of life and the human condition and who could and can knock out such a darn good story that it makes you feel sad to see the end coming.

Words as Art

I was fortunate enough to hear author Monte Schulz read from his latest novel recently. This Side of Jordan is in my opinion his breakout work, an admirable result of meticulous historical research and marvelous wordcraft that just happens to tell a great story, too. Schulz manipulates words on the page the way a painter moves color across a canvas - with a combination of great skill, sensitivity, and love for both his subject and his medium. This Side of Jordan doesn't flinch away from either gross brutality or exquisite tenderness; the book deftly portrays human condition in all its forms without imposing judgment on its characters. This is something all too rare these days. Readers who still enjoy the sensual and intellectual stimulus of reading will not be disappointed by this book.

a new great american novelist(?)

just finished reading a review copy. monte is coming to our bookstore, tsunami books in eugene, in october. i've been looking for a great new american voice for years. i think i've found it. i laughed out loud, i cheered, i broke down and cried, my mind was very pleasantly stretched. much like "bel canto, " i found this book of penultimate 'cinemagraphic' quality. can't wait for volumes 2 and 3. first printing of 8000 is bound to be gone in a heartbeat. with all the violence of "no country for old men," innocence in this book takes the day. thank you monte schulz. scott landfield, proprietor, tsunami books, eugene, oregon