num_pages: 368
description: Wade Whitehouse is an improbable protagonist for a tragedy. A well-digger and policeman in a bleak New Hampshire town, he is a former high-school star gone to beer fat, a loner with a mean streak. It is a mark of Russell Banks' artistry and understanding that Wade comes to loom in one's mind as a blue-collar American Everyman afflicted by the dark secret of the macho tradition. Told by his articulate, equally scarred younger brother, Wade's story becomes as spellbinding and inexorable as a fuse burning its way to the dynamite.
language: English
title: Affliction
titlecomplete: Affliction
characters: Evan Twombley, Jill Whitehouse, Jack Hewitt, Glenn Whitehouse, Rolfe Whitehouse, Sally Whitehouse, Wade Whitehouse, Lillian Whitehouse
genres: American, Mystery, The United States Of America, Novels, Suspense, Thriller, Literature, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 3649
places: New Hampshire
awards: awardedAt: 631180800000
name: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
publisher: Harper Perennial