Of Song and Water
By Joseph Coulson
(Archipelago Books, Hardcover, 9780977857661, 260pp.)
Publication Date: April 2007
Other Editions of This Title: Paperback
Categories: General
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"Joseph Coulson's writing makes a reader hear jazz."
L.A. Times
Of Song and Water tells a tale of the Great Lakes, of singlehanded sailors and jazz musicians, of working-class dreams blighted by family duty, personal betrayals, and the untold violence between fathers and sons.
The story moves from the shores of Lake Huron and Lake Erie to the jazz bars of Detroit and Chicago, from 1920s Rivertown to present-day Humbug Marina, as it follows the life of Coleman Moore, a jazz guitarist who began his career with promise but who now finds himself adrift and in the company of ghosts: his mentor, a black jazz legend trying to live peacefully on the edge of a white town; his grandfather, a Prohibition rumrunner turned ruthless entrepreneur; and his first love, a clear-headed woman who refuses to live in the dark tunnels of the past.
In language that evokes the riffs and rhythms of jazz and the sound and movement of the Great Lakes, Joseph Coulson’s second novel is a profound Orphic journey, a story of hidden truths, unfulfilled dreams, and possible redemption.
Joseph Coulson, novelist, poet, and playwright, was born in Detroit in 1957. His first novel, The Vanishing Moon (2004) was selected for the Barnes & Noble Great New Writers series and won the Book of the Year Award, Gold Medal in Literary Fiction, from ForeWord Magazine.
"The jazz scenes crackle with energy and authority … Coulson moves fluidly between the past and the present, and the novel is ultimately quiet, affecting and redemptive."
Publishers Weekly
"Will remind readers of classic authors like Steinbeck and Zola, or perhaps such contemporary masters of wounded male pride and self-doubt as Raymond Carver and Russell Banks."
The Buffalo News
"Flourishes, when they come, are small. Words are chosen carefully to build each idea and, in turn, the story; the overall effect is like Coleman’s music—understated, steady bass undercurrent, drum flourishes, and guitar work that, if you’re only partway listening, seems competent enough, but when you give yourself up to the story, let it settle around you, can change the colors in the room."
Matthew Tiffany
Praise for Joseph Coulson's debut novel, The Vanishing Moon
A Barnes & Noble Great New Writers selection
Winner of ForeWord Magazine's Gold Medal in Literary Fiction
"An ambitious effort that heralds the arrival of an intriguing talent … Achieves the quiet beauty of William Maxwell's finest work—generous, episodic, elegiac but not sentimental …"
The Nation
"Coulson is what we used to call (with apologies to the vegetarians) a meat and potatoes storyteller: clear, vivid, big-hearted. So many unheard voices speak and sing through his voice. Listen."
Martín Espada
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