Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America

By Jonathan Raban

Book Overview

A New York Times Notable Book "In an era of jet tourism, [Jonathan Raban] remains a traveler-adventurer in the tradition of . . . Robert Louis Stevenson." --The New York Times Book Review In 1782 an immigrant with the high-toned name J. Hector St. John de Cr?vecoeur--"Heartbreak" in English--wrote a pioneering account of one European's transformation into an American. Some two hundred years later Jonathan Raban, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, arrived in Cr?vecoeur's wake to see how America has paid off for succeeding generations of newcomers. The result is an exhilarating, often deliciously funny book that is at once a travelogue, a social history, and a love letter to the United States. In the course of Hunting Mr. Heartbreak, Raban passes for homeless in New York and tries to pass for a good ol' boy in Alabama (which entails "renting" an elderly black lab). He sees the Protestant work ethic perfected by Korean immigrants in Seattle--one of whom celebrates her new home as "So big! So green! So wide-wide-wide!"--and repudiated by the lowlife of Key West. And on every page of this peerlessly observant work, Raban makes us experience America with wonder, humor, and an unblinking eye for its contradictions. "Raban delivers himself of some of the most memorable prose ever written about urban America." --Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times "When Raban describes America and Americans, he is unfailingly witty and entertaining." --Salman Rushdie From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060182091
• ISBN13: 9780060182090
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Edward Burlingame Books
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Squire "Rayburn"

Jonathan Raban is, unless I'm missing some unknown genius out there (always a possibility), the best contemporary travel writer out there - hands, anchors, flaps down. I think the main reason for this is that his writing is not MERE travel writing, as such, but is as much introspective as explorative. He allows the places he visits to seep into him and produces narratives that seamlessly mingle inner and outer travel as no other modern writer does. He is also keenly aware - or makes himself keenly aware - of the history of the places he sojourns, such as Guntersville, Alabama, giving his narratives a further layer of texture and depth. Added to all these qualities, he is extremely literate and literary - And yet for all these depths, he is so much fun! There are not many books which cause me to laugh aloud when reading them; Fielding's Eighteenth Century Classic Tom Jones was the last, if memory serves. But this book did it for me, particularly the one hundred page centrepiece of the book, the chapter "In Our Valley", set in Guntersville, Alabama: His (successful) attempt to "rent" or borrow a dog - the Labrador "Gypsy", his renting a cabin in a neighbourhood called Polecat Alley, imagining himself as a Southern squire if he buys the lakefront property a local real estate dealer is attempting to foist on him etc--Perhaps it's because I myself am a transplanted Englishman living in the South, but these hundred pages were golden to me, and worth as much as the entire book- particularly when Raban notices he's picking up a Southern accent and starting to call himself "Mr. Rayburn" (to be intoned with long-stressed Southern syllables), as the rest of the town has denominated him. Well, I've gone on enough. Time for me, as Raban puts it, to "flat-mash the gas pedal" and let you readers do the further exploring.

A masterpiece

Raban's four books written to date on America-Old Glory, Hunting Mr Heartbreak, Badlands and Passage to Juneau-are all elegant and entertaining meditations on America and what it is to be American. Although each book is very different, they all feature the same blend of candid autobiography, careful historical exegesis, vivid description, and wry humour. Each one is a rewarding work, but Hunting Mr Heartbreak is in my view his masterpiece. Each chapter of the book is a self-contained episode in a personal odyssey, which takes as its starting point the voyage made by the immigrants who flocked to the New World from Europe. The book was written over ten years ago and a few parts of it have inevitably lost a little of their resonance, but his exploration of the historical currents underlying American life and of the concept(s) of Americanness itself remains as relevant and perceptive as ever. Raban's skillful interweaving of allegory and analysis, cleverness and comedy, wonder and unease has resulted in a rich and endlessly fascinating book.

A Discovery of America

This is an extremely excellent book both full of character and details as it is of a real understanding of the perspectives of the early immigrants. This is a must read book that not only opens up the US as a haven for others but also as a place of great opportunities. It will leave you wanting to read more.

A Wonderful Read

This is another thoroughly enjoyable book that Mr. Raban has produced. As good as Old Glory, Hunting he is a book that deserves to be read. I save his books for trips so that I can savour each and every page. Memorable accounts of his sea journey over and his time in Guntersville, Alabama live on years after reading.

When I finished this book, I felt like I'd lost a friend.

A Brit who has travelled extensively in the U.S shares his impressions and voyages. Very perceptive, and communicates a great love of the places he's been and above all of the people he's met. Usually classified under "travel", everything I've read by Raban reads as easily as your favourite novel. "Hunting Mr. Heartbreak" takes the reader from New York (an amazing description of Macy's, and how the city is divided into "sky people" and "street people"), through Alabama, to Seattle and then to the Florida keys. Raban knows how to capture the spirit of a place through an interaction he observes on the street, a billboard on the side of the road, an article in the local newspaper. He is always gentle, humourous, understated. If you don't have time to take that road trip, this is definitely the next best thing. I have no idea why this book is out of print. I have over ten friends reading this book on my recommendation, and they can't stop talking about it. Get it any way you can.