Mr. VertigoAn enduringly brilliant tale of trial and triumph, set in America in the 1920s, from the author of 4 3 2 1: A Novel Paul Auster, the New York Times-bestselling author of The New York Trilogy, presents a dazzling, picaresque novel set in the late 1920s – the era of Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh, and Al Capone. Walter Claireborne Rawley, renowned nationwide as "Walt the Wonder Boy," is a Saint Louis orphan rescued from the streets by a mysterious Hungarian Jew, Master Yehudi, who teaches Walt to walk on air. Master Yehudi brings Walt into a Kansas circus troupe consisting of Mother Sioux and Aesop, a young black genius. The vaudeville act takes them across a vast and vibrant country, through mythic Americana where they meet and fall prey to sinners, thieves, and villains, from the Kansas Ku Klux Klan to the Chicago mob. Walt's rise to fame and fortune mirrors America's own coming of age, and his resilience, like that of the nation, is challenged over and over and over again. |
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Common terms and phrases
Aesop and Mother ain't already anymore arms better Bingo bones breath Cape Cod chance couple dark dead Dizzy Dizzy Dean door everything eyes face feel feet felt finger floor Fritz gave Gibson City going gone gray horse ground half hand happened hard head heard hell jump knew later laugh legs levitation living look loved Master Yehudi minutes months morning Mother Sioux MUSIC OF CHANCE never night once opened pain Paul Auster pulled remember road Saint Louis sitting Sitting Bull smile stand started stood stop stuff sure talk tell there's thing thought Tim Buck told took town turned Uncle Slim Vertigo walked Walt the Wonder watching weeks What's whole Wichita Witherspoon Wonder Boy word YORK TRILOGY