The Lay of the Land
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Plot Summary of The Lay of the Land

"    At age 55, Frank, diagnosed with prostate cancer, still needs to define himself.
    In the three days of Thanksgiving weekend, 1999, Frank must resolve life-changing issues. His second wife, Sally, has left him to live with her first husband who miraculously re-appeared from the dead.Meanwhile, his first wife, Ann Dykstra, has become widowed and makes overtures towards him again. Rashly, he invites her to join him for the holiday dinner at his seaside home which he purchased when he and Sally married eight years ago. His attractive, 25 year-old daughter, Clarissa, a Harvard graduate, flirting with bisexuality, has moved in with him and helped him choose his most effective cancer treatment at the Mayo Clinic. His 27 year-old son, Paul, from whom he is estranged, is due to visit with his odd girlfriend who has lost an arm.
    Frank, still in real-estate, has gone into business with a young Tibetan Buddhist who now wants to buy him out. Complicating these matters is the undecided election of 1999, when the country still doesn't know whether Bush or Gore will be the next president.
    This 496-page novel journeys from the wealthy New Jersey suburb of Haddam where Frank played out his "Existence Period", unfolded in the second novel, "Independence Day", to Sea Cliff where he lived idyllically with Sally until she left him. Will his cancer be cured, will Sally return to him and will Frank experience an "a-ha"moment, when his future opens up with sudden clarity?
    Events move slowly. The sometimes clueless Frank bumbles along, neither accepting nor rejecting the reality of suburban and seaside life. He weighs the variety of choices available to him."
Betty-Jeanne Korson, Resident Scholar

Review Analysis of The Lay of the Land

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1980's-1999
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over - dying

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - small businessman
Age: - 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Female
Age: - 40's-50's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a little/some
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - very athletic

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 10 ()

Style
Person - mostly 1st
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - lesbians!
Unusual Style: - a lot of flashback and forwards
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog

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Richard Ford Resident Scholar Profiles

TOP SCHOLAR:

Betty-Jeanne Korson

SCHOLARS: David Fletcher

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The Lay of the Land
Richard Ford Book Review