A Call from Jersey Hardcover - 2010

Media reviews

Praise for A Call From Jersery

"A Call from Jersey is a luminous and compelling novel about the way surprises from the past can reshape our future. An invitation to a high school reunion brings a restless travel writer back to New Jersey to confront a father he abandoned, friends he forgot, and a history he never knew. Kluge knows his characters from the inside and his comic, loving portrayals stand with the best of Russo and Irving. Jersey has never seemed more exotic. Kluge entertains while provoking all the big questions about the meaning of origins and the search for home."--Askold Melnyczuk

"I have admired every novel by P.F. Kluge, but I must say that A Call From Jersey is the most stunning, provocative and beautifully written of all. It's splendid fiction--of course--but it's like the autobiography of a life I wish I'd had. A life I wish I could animate with such powerful immediacy, humor, unmitigated emotion as this brilliant writer Mr. Kluge has. This novel is the rare iconic immigrant story--inimitable, mesmerizing, tough-minded, generous, and haunting."--Howard Norman, author of What Is Left the Daughter

"P.F. Kluge has enchanting powers: a narrative voice that is distinctive without being mannered, and fictional characters bold to express their deepest emotions without sentimentality. A Call From Jersey is a beautifully modulated father and son drama that reconciles two generations of German Americans, those who immigrated in the 1930s, and their more cynical offspring who came of age in the 1960s. This new novel adds a salient chapter to the history of the American dream."--Daniel Mark Epstein

"Absorbing... as much about the 20th Century experience as it is about brothers, fathers, and sons"--Publishers Weekly

"[P. F. Kluge] sketches a difficult but ultimately loving father/son relationship with a rare sincerity and welcome humor. Heartfelt, funny and poignant."--Kirkus Reviews

"We're very fond of books set in New Jersey. And, since our grandparents were immigrants, we're very fond of books about those 'tempest tossed' souls."--Asbury Park Press

"A Call From Jersey is a profound and thought provoking read, sure to entertain and many reader and leave a lasting impact."--Midwest Book ReviewAUTHOR BIO: Novelist, journalist and teacher, P.F. Kluge is Writer in Residence at Kenyon College. Two films, Dog Day Afternoon and Eddie and the Cruisers, have been based on his work. END