Tom Lowe's identity and his pride are invested in the work he does with his back and his hands. He designed and built his family's dream home, working extra hours to pay off the adjustable rate mortgage he took on the property, convinced he is making every sacrifice for the happiness of his wife and son. Until, in a moment of fatigued inattention, shingling a roof in too-bright sunlight, he falls.
In constant pain, addicted to painkillers at the cost of his relationships with his wife and son, Tom slowly comes to realize that he can never work again. If he is not a working man, who is he? He is not, he believes, the kind of person who lives in subsidized housing, though that is where he has ended up. He is not the kind of person who hatches a scheme to commit convenience-check fraud, together with neighbors he considers lowlifes, until he finds himself stealing his banker's trash.
Who is Tom Lowe, and who will he become? Can he find a way to reunite hands and heart, mind and spirit, to be once again a giver and not just a taker, to forge a self-acceptance deeper than pride?
Andre Dubus III's soulful cast includes Trina, the struggling mom next door who sells her own plasma to get by; Dawn, the tough-talking owner of the local hairdressing salon; Jamie, a well-meaning pothead college student ready to stick it to "the man"; and a mix of strangers and neighbors who will never know the role they played in changing a life. To one man's painful moral journey, Dubus brings compassion with an edge of dark absurdity, forging a novel as absorbing as it is profound.
Industry Reviews
"Dubus is at the top of his game here, masterfully carrying the reader from the present action to Tom's memories and dreams without confusion. The writing and the structure are clean and seamless. " -- Issac Fitzgerald - The New York Times Book Review
"A powerful portrait of recovered dignity. " -- People
"Dubus excels at showing how mistakes can compound into tragedy... [and] brilliantly captures the ways chronic pain erodes the self... 'Such Kindness' is an astonishing novel about all these feelings, and the actions they call forth when we pay attention. " -- Lorraine Berry - The Los Angeles Times
"Dubus is, undoubtedly, a skilled writer, and 'Such Kindness' is an admirable project for challenging us to show compassion for those on the economic fringes of society. " -- Zahir Janmohamed - Boston Globe
"Such Kindness charts a remarkable rebirth, not from poverty to wealth but from bitter helplessness to the knowledge of self-worth. The result is a gripping and transformational journey towards kindness, in a tremendously moving novel. " -- Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
"Such Kindness is magnificent. A profound and compassionate study of how to be human wrapped in a taut survival story. I loved it so much. This is Dubus at his absolute finest." -- Lily King, author of Five Tuesdays in Winter
