The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill
A Novel
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
**ONE OF POPSUGAR'S “10 BOOKS BY DEBUT AUTHORS TO WATCH IN 2019”**
From a powerful new literary voice, a sweeping epic of one family and the destructive power of the American Dream
All their lives, the children of George Benjamin Hill have fought to escape the shadow of their father, a dust-bowl orphan, self-made millionaire in bedrock American capitalism (fast food and oil), and destroyer of two families on his way to financial success.
Now, they are approaching middle age and ruin: A failed ex–minor league ballplayer, divorced and mourning the death of his daughter in Miami; a self-proclaimed CIA veteran, off his meds and deciphering conspiracies in Manhattan; a Las Vegas showgirl turned old maid of The Strip, trying to stay clean; and an Alaskan bush pilot, twice un-indicted for manslaughter and recently thrown off his land by the federal government.
While their father takes his place at the center of a national scandal, these estranged siblings find themselves drawn from their four corners of the country, compelled along crowded interstates by resentment and confusion, converging on a 300-acre horse ranch outside Omaha for a final confrontation with the father they never had.
Migrating from the suburban anonymity of 1950s San Bernardino, to the frozen end of the world (Alaska circa 1976), and concluding in the background of one of the most horrifying moments in American history, The Patricide of George Benjamin Hill spans seventy years of life in America, from the Great Depression to the age of corporate greed and terrorism. It is a literary suspense novel about the decline and consequence of patriarchal society. It is also an intricate family saga of aspiration and betrayal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This sprawling, underwhelming debut from Charlesworth follows four grown children of an American billionaire as they hurtle toward an unorthodox reunion. Oil and fast food magnate George Benjamin Hill has two children from a first marriage GB and Jamie and two from a second twins Max and Maddie. It's been two decades since last contact with their unloving father, and now GB is a failed minor league baseball player living in Miami; Jamie spouts conspiracy theories on the streets of New York City, off his meds and struggling to decipher memory from delusion; Max lives a solitary life as a pilot in Alaska; and Maddie is a former Vegas showgirl trying to stay sober. After Max is inspired to gather his siblings during the aftermath of the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001, they plan a reunion intended to help them find closure with their troubled childhoods. Although the plot speeds toward this climactic reckoning, the novel suffers from muddled timelines and excess exposition. Charlesworth spends much effort establishing George Benjamin Hill as a symbol of American capitalism run amok heading companies similar to McDonald's, ExxonMobil, and Enron but never delves into his psychology or early personal history to make him more than a foil to his children. Charlesworth's debut has an intriguing concept marred by a hasty, underdeveloped plot.
