The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter | Fiction | DONNE TEMPO

The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter

August/25/08 11:30 PM Filed in: Fiction

By Cecei O’Bryon England
Feast of Love by Charles Baxter
A man wanders his neighborhood, late at night and encounters another man, out walking his dog in the wee hours of the morning. The first tells the second he is suffering from writers block. The second says, let me tell you a story.

So begins The Feast of Love (Charles Baxter for Vintage Contemporaries. ISBN-10: 0307387275 $10.17) an engaging selection of stories from the lives of an interconnected group of neighbors.

There are young people, old people, and those of middle age, all seeking partnership and solace in the relatively insular Midwestern town in which they live.

Charles, the writer, meets Bradley, and Bradley sends him to collect stories from his ex wife, and employees. The readers also meet Bradley’s neighbors and the web of characters continues.

Bradley himself undergoes the most growth in this collection as he suffers through two marriages and embarks hopefully on a third, and his emotional development is mirrored in the stories Charles collects.

It is as though the reader were looking through the windows walking down the street at night. The portraits are intimate, the perspectives varying, and the outcomes surprising. Baxter speaks to everyone in this tale of an everyman told through stories. It is the peek into the lives of others that novel readers seek.

About the Author

Charles Baxter (www.charlesbaxter.com) lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of seven other works of fiction, including Believers, Harmony of the World, and Through the Safety Net. The Feast of Love was a finalist for the National Book Award.