Exiles

“Extraordinary… a kaleidoscope made up of nothing but exiles.” —The New York Times

“The finest work of Caputo’s career—a quantum leap beyond his previous fiction.” —Kirkus Reviews

EXILES (1997)

In this startling new work of fiction, the acclaimed author of A Rumor of War creates three powerful dramas of dislocation, following his characters places they have no business being and into situations that are vastly—and dangerously—beyond their depth. In the Connecticut suburbs, a motherless young man suddenly becomes the beneficiary of a wealthy older couple, whose generosity has unsuspected motives and a sinister price. On an island in Australia’s Torres Strait, an enigmatic castaway throws kinks into the local culture and sexual politics. And in the jungles of Vietnam, four American soldiers undertake a mystical search for a man-eating tiger. Filled with atmospheric tension, crackling with psychological observation, and evoking masters from Joseph Conrad to Robert Stone, Exiles is a riveting literary experience.

Praise

From Kirkus Reviews

Three impressively varied and dramatic novellas, the first collection of shorter fiction from the author of such novels as Horn of Africa (1980) and Equation for Evil (1996), as well as the acclaimed Vietnam memoir A Rumor of War (1977). The first and longest story, “Standing In,” traces the emotional course travelled by Dante Panetta, a young barber who, while returning by Amtrak to Connecticut for his mother’s funeral, meets an older married couple—Greer and Julian Rhodes—to whom he finds himself helplessly bound by an “incredible accident of genetics.” The ways in which Dante’s eerie physical resemblance to their dead son affects both him and them are explored with brisk economy and skillful pacing in a memorable depiction of identity crisis and class conflict. “Paradise” describes the volatile impact of a shipwreck survivor on the inhabitants of a small island off the Australian coast. Caputo renders the locals’ speech patterns expertly and shifts viewpoints to dazzling effect, creating enormous tension as the disturbed islanders wonder whether the mysterious Anson Barlow is a drug runner, or murderer, or something altogether worse. There’s also a splendid surprise ending, in a terrific piece of storytelling that Peter Matthiessen or Robert Stone might well envy. “In the Forest of the Laughing Elephant” records a “rescue mission” carried out in the jungles of Vietnam by American soldiers whose mess sergeant has been carried away by an enormous tiger. The mission’s obsessed leader is determined to exert authority over every enemy, even one motivated by nothing more combative than natural appetite (“It had to be shown who ruled this jungle”). The story is a tour de force: an inventive and haunting parable about men out of their element in a strange and dangerous new land. A possible homage to literary mentors (the novellas respectively recall The Great Gatsby, “The Nigger of the Narcissus,” and “Heart of Darkness”), and the finest work of Caputo’s career—a quantum leap beyond his previous fiction.

“As good an introduction to Philip Caputo as one can find.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Breathtaking… a tour de force of impassioned prose.” —Baltimore Sun

“Caputo is a splendid muscular storyteller… Exiles is remarkable and often harrowing.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review