A Call from Jersey - Softcover

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 courseibut 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
Absorbingeas 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 itempest tossed souls. -- "Asbury Park Press" Praise for P.F Kluge
One of NPR s Best Books of 2008
A Sharply observed yet tender novel ea quirky, tart yet unexpectedly generous story. -"New York Times" A sparkling new novel, witty and astute. -"Entertainment Weekly"
Kluge has dozens of gorgeous, wrenching passages, details, throw-away observations. He can really write, like a man who means it. -"San Francisco Chronicle"
The book s sense of place is authentic -- "New Jersey Star-Ledger"
Engaging intergenerational storyeKluge [is] a wry and underappreciated novelist -- "Cleveland Plain Dealer""

Follows the life of Hans Greifinger, a German-American who immigrated to the U.S. in 1928 and built a life for himself in New York and later New Jersey, and his son, George, who has adopted the surname Griffin for his lackluster, nationally syndicated travel column. Reprint.