Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel
    Unavailable
    The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel
    Ebook294 pages4 hours

    The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel

    By MacKenzie Bezos

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “A sophisticated novel that breaks and swells the heart. A sure-footed excavation into the nuances of everyday terror—the kind that turns devotion into despair, trust into treachery, love into loss. Its pull is irresistible.”  — Toni Morrison, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and author of Song of Solomon

    “Quietly absorbing . . . the slow pileup of events takes on unexpected, if mild urgency . . . wholly original and convincing.”  — New York Times Book Review

    Luther Albright is a builder of dams, a man whose greatest pride (besides his family) is running his hands over the true planes of the house he built himself and knowing that he’s constructed something that will shield and shelter them from harm.

    A relatively minor incident -- an earthquake that shakes his Sacramento home—reveals fault lines and cracks in the facade of his family. His teenage son’s behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and threatening, his devoted wife more distant, and then a dam of Luther’s design comes under investigation for structural flaws exposed by the tremors. In the midst of his heartbreaking family dissolution, Luther must battle against the need to withhold his emotions and push his family even farther away.

    Nightmarish meanings begin to shout at Luther from the most innocent of places as debut novelist MacKenzie Bezos tightens her net of psychological suspense around the reader with bravura skill. In the spirit of Rosellen Brown and Alice McDermott, this is a harrowing portrait of an ordinary man who finds himself tested and strives not to be found wanting.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061758096
    Unavailable
    The Testing of Luther Albright: A Novel
    Author

    MacKenzie Bezos

    MacKenzie Bezos lives in Seattle, Washington. This is her first novel.

    Related to The Testing of Luther Albright

    Related ebooks

    Psychological Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ‘American Dirt’: Who Gets To Tell Your Story?

      Jan 30, 2020

      The publisher of Jeanine Cummins’ novel “American Dirt” canceled her book tour Wednesday, saying she has received death threats.

      6 min read

    • Article

      In Summary

      Jul 1, 2021

      There’s some good writing here. This short extract has covered a lot of ground and established that Edwina is a recently widowed woman thanks to the sinking of the Titanic. Her interior voice is skilfully rendered and there are some subtle touches su

      1 min read

    • Article

      April Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month)

      Apr 5, 2021

      April brings new books from Haruki Murakami, Helen Oyeyemi, Elizabeth McCracken, Kaitlyn Greenidge, and a whole lot more. The post April Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month) appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Lighter Side of Dan Chaon

      Apr 11, 2022

      I had a dystopian idea in the beginning, and in the end the dystopia caught up with me. The post The Lighter Side of Dan Chaon appeared first on The Millions.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Beth Macy

      Sep 17, 2018

      The best-selling author on dope sickness, the opioid addict next door and holding drug companies accountable

      2 min read

    • Article

      What We’re Reading: Writers And Readers On The Books They Enjoyed In October

      Oct 26, 2022

      In this series we ask authors, Guardian writers and readers to share what they have been reading recently. This month, recommendations include a feminist cookbook, a piercing memoir and revisited favourites. Tell us in the comments what you have been

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Crime Classic Gets A New Chapter

      Dec 17, 2018

      JOHN GRISHAM HAS WRITTEN DOZENS of legal thrillers but just one book of nonfiction: The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town. Published in 2006, the true-crime story profiles Ron Williamson, a mentally ill man who, along with his friend

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Best Books of 2017

      Dec 18, 2017

      The Best Books of 2017
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Castillo, Hokeah, Murphy, and More

      Jul 26, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Elaine Castillo, Oscar Hokeah, Dwyer Murphy, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The Milli

      4 min read

    • Article

      Howl Palace

      Sep 15, 2019

      Last week, I finally had to put Howl Palace up for sale. Years of poor financial planning had led to this decision, and I tried to take some comfort in my agent’s belief in a buyer who might show up with an all-cash offer. My agent is a highly organi

      25 min read

    • Article

      Audiobooks on Apple Watch

      Feb 4, 2020

      Audiobooks on Apple Watch
      2 min read

    • Article

      January Fiction

      Dec 14, 2021

      The Maid by Nita Prose HarperCollins, £14.99 Molly Gray, the narrator of Nita Prose’s startlingly good debut novel, is a young woman who knows her place—and who rather likes it. For “approximately four years, 13 weeks, and five days” she’s been worki

      2 min read

    • Article

      Gay History In The City Of Secrets

      May 20, 2022

      DURING J. EDGAR Hoover’s 48 years as FBI director, people often gossiped about whether his bedroom tastes were as straight as his agents’ marksmanship, citing everything from his fondness for socializing in male groups to his close relationship with

      5 min read

    Reviews for The Testing of Luther Albright

    3/5

    1 rating2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I think the best way to describe this novel is as a series of tests. Stability tests are run on dams after earthquakes. Just so are parents tested as children become adolescents and young adults. Just so are couples tested as they change over time. Tremors and after shocks test the stability of relationships. In this story, Luther Albright tries to fit his emotional world into his engineer's orderly framework. Frankly, the reader's patience is tested a bit too by Luther's/the author's pedantic process.
    • 3/5
      A low-key but affecting portrait of a family whose admirable head has one fatal flaw. Luther Albright is a responsible man. That shows in his work as a highly respected civil engineer in Sacramento; it shows in the shipshape house he built from scratch in the Sacramento suburbs; and it shows in his love for his close-knit family. Yet his story begins: "The year I lost my wife and son . . ." Lost: the ominous, ambiguous word hangs over the seemingly inconsequential episodes to come. Summary BPLSuperior quality prose and fleshed out characters. The point of it all flew right over my head though. Luther's attention to detail, obsessively methodical routine and flat aspect--on the page anyway--had the tang of autism to me and I read the entire story in that key. As I tried to write this review, I saw that it could also be about a person too traumatized by emotion in his childhood to give it any space in his adult life; a father determined not to make the same mistakes as his own parents.The story lags, testing the interest and patience of the reader.6 out 10