Description
World’s End by T. Coraghessan Boyle is an ambitious, multi-generational novel that traces the intertwined histories of three families in New York’s Hudson River Valley, spanning from the late 1600s to the turbulent 1960s. With a distinctive mix of dark humour, lyrical prose, and hallucinatory storytelling, Boyle weaves a complex narrative that explores the weight of history, family legacies, and personal identity.
The story centres on Walter Van Brunt, a wayward drifter in the late 1960s whose reckless lifestyle of pot, cheap wine, and fleeting affairs leads him to a fateful motorcycle crash into a highway historical marker. This incident triggers a journey through his ancestral past, linking his story to colonial settlers, anti-communist hysteria, and generations of rivalry, betrayal, and buried secrets. Boyle’s vivid, often surreal style captures the spirit of each era while unravelling the bitter inheritance of human folly and hope.
Ideal for readers who enjoy sprawling, character-rich historical fiction with a touch of dark satire and magical realism, World’s End is a bold, thought-provoking novel about how history clings to the present.
