This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of a
n heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter gothic" rented house, Pau
l sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting
a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over a
n ore strike on the site of Ude's African mission. At the still center of the br
eakneck action--revealed in Gaddis's inimitable virtuoso dialoge--is Paul's wife
, Liz, and over it all looms the shadowy figure of McCandless, a geologist from
whom Paul and Liz rent their house. As Paul mishandles the situation, his wife t
akes the geologist to her bed and a fire and aborted assassination occur; Ude is
sues a call to arms as harrowing as any Jeremiad--and Armageddon comes rapidly c
loser. Displaying Gaddis's inimitable virtuoso dialogue, and his startling treat
ments of violence and sexuality, Carpenter's Gothic "shows again that Gaddis is
among the first rank of contemporary American writers" (Malcolm Bradbury, The Wa
shington Post Book World).
