For Sale: Rick Moody. Purple America. Little, Brown, 1997.

Description

Purple America by Rick Moody is a darkly comic and emotionally charged novel about family, identity, and the complexities of care.

The story follows Hex Raitliffe, a middle-aged man returning to his childhood home to care for his ailing, alcoholic mother, Billie, who suffers from a debilitating illness. Set over a single tumultuous day, Hex grapples with his fraught relationships, especially with his estranged stepfather, and his own failures and guilt.

Moody’s prose is rich and experimental, blending humor, pathos, and social critique to explore themes of generational conflict, the erosion of the American Dream, and the persistence of love amidst dysfunction.