Fiction. Hundreds of novels have explored the war in Vietnam. This is the first to explore the world of the architects of that war, and it cuts terribly close to home. Dimock brilliantly exposes the pained heart of a single family and offers a vision of what their way of life still costs us all. His book raises with startling freshness ancient yet urgent questions about relations between image, word, and act.
"This is a singular book. Peter Dimock's A SHORT RHETORIC FOR LEAVING THE FAMILY possesses the rich, intricate, and subtle patternings of the verbal lacemaker's craft. A remarkable debut."—Toni Morrison