Monday, Monday: A Novel

by Elizabeth Crook

Overview

Winner of the Texas Institute of Letters' Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction

Named one of Kirkus Reviews's Best Fiction Books of the Year and a Wall Street Journal Favorite Book of the Year

On an oppressively hot Monday in August of 1966, a student and former marine named Charles Whitman hauled a footlocker of guns to the top of the University of Texas tower and began firing on pedestrians below. Monday, Monday follows three students caught up in the massacre: Shelly, who leaves class and walks directly into the path of the bullets, and two cousins, Wyatt and Jack, who heroically rush from their classrooms to help the victims.

This searing day marks the beginning of a relationship that will entangle these three young people in a forbidden love affair, an illicit pregnancy, and a vow of silence that will span forty years. Reunited decades after the tragedy, Shelly, Wyatt, and Jack will be thrown back once more to the event that changed their lives, and confronted with the lingering power of a secret none of them are ready to reveal. With Monday, Monday, "Elizabeth Crook has written an extraordinary novel-an eloquent love story born from an act of random violence, a tale of destruction and redemption" (Sarah Bird).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250069221
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Elizabeth Crook is the author of three previous novels. Her novel The Night Journal won a Spur Award from Western Writers of America and a WILLA Literary Award from Women Writing the West. She has written for magazines and periodicals, including Texas Monthly and the Southwestern Historical Quarterly. She lives in Austin with her family.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS


1. The Tower 3
2. Triage 20
3. Jack 29
4. Day from Night 34
5. Long-Distance 39
6. Tempera 45
7. A Perfect Likeness 56
8. What They Couldn’t Have 62
9. Before Long 66
10. How Afraid She Was 68
11. In the Rain 72
12. The Minnow Baby 75
13. What Jack Said 78
14. A Knock at the Door 81
15. In Those Long Months 87
16. Going Over 95
17. Aquarena 99
18. Her Name Is Carlotta 103
19. Dan 116
20. Painting Over 123
21. An Unlikely Gift 128
22. Due West 131
23. Lizard Mountain 135
24. Madeline 144
25. The Marfa Lights 148
26. The Secret Side of the Moon 153
27. Into the Woods 159
28. The Dev il’s Sinkhole 166
29. Night Journey 179
30. The Lost Years 186
31. Andy 195
32. The Lovely Painting 199
33. Unpredictable Shifts 204
34. Carlotta’s Question 208
35. The Salt Air 213
36. A Mere Mishap 218
37. The Road West 225
38. An Uninvited Guest 229
39. A Second Uninvited Guest 235
40. The Blue Blouse 241
41. Promises, Promises 244
42. The Magic 8 Ball 246
43. A Search Party 251
44. Emmett Johnson, Mobile Veterinarian 256
45. The Tadpole’s Funeral 260
46. A Family Outing 264
47. Sorting Stones 271
48. Waiting for Carlotta 277
49. The End of the Rodeo 283
50. “One Kiss?” 296
51. The Fierce Wind 301
52. Moonlight Visit 307
53. The Up End of the Seesaw 311
54. A Night Sky 314
55. The Way Home 317
56. The Oyster Shell 323
57. From the Tower 326

Acknowledgments 337

Editorial Reviews

This rapturous novel starts with one of the most heinous shootings in history, yet every page shines with life. Crook follows three students who endured the tragedy as they grapple with the past, struggle to navigate their futures, and discover that who and what saves us is nothing like what you imagine. Brilliantly realized and so vivid the novel seems to virtually breathe, Monday, Monday is a stunning achievement.” —Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You

“[E]loquent. . . Monday, Monday opens with a random, hideous act, but thankfully the novel isn't about that moment or the gunman. The shooting sets in motion an entire lifetime of relationships; from an act of violence springs love, friendship, loss, forgiveness and survival. . . Crook's writing shimmers with life. . . a gorgeous, worthy and entirely believable read.” —San Antonio Express-News

“[Monday, Monday] is rich in detail and grand in scope. . . the emotional journey shown in the novel remains honest, and deeply human.” —Bustle

“Authentic. . . harrowing. . . makes us believe the characters were there. . . Crook's exploration of Whitman's massacre and its lingering effects will have relevance for years to come.” —Dallas Morning News

“This is a vivid portrayal of resolve in the face of great tragedy.” —Booklist

“Framing a story in the context of calamity—in this instance, mass murder—invites both sensationalism and sentimentality; there have been few memorable successes, Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed among them. Add Crook's latest to the plus side of the list….confident and lyrical as it smartly engages terror and its aftermath.” —Kirkus (starred review)

“Love, loss, redemption, forgiveness—all are expertly drawn in a narrative that is so very authentic and generous. Crook skillfully weaves together several compelling stories through her close attention to the Texas setting. VERDICT The sensitively explored themes of adoption and coping with violence should create interest in this rich and satisfying tale.” —Library Journal

“The tale unwinds like an examination of the ripple effect. . . As readers, we have the benefit of sitting in the sand and watching them break on the shoreline. . . This story is the antithesis to the diagram published in the pages of Time magazine shortly after the shooting. Crook forsakes the aerial view and brings your cheek right on down to the scalding pavement.” —Austin Chronicle

“[An] intensely imagined novel. . . The story unfurls simply and smoothly, with a quiet insistence much like the path the characters will take. Crook renders Shelly's interior life delicately and fully, and artfully conveys her many moments of panic and anguish.” —Publishers Weekly

“Beautifully written. . . The book is a complex tale about overcoming fear and the risks and power of love. . . And it is the story of the compromises we all make to get by in this imperfect world. Part of what makes this book so compelling is the open and tender way each character is honestly but lovingly portrayed. . . A wonderful book that will make you cry, but also uplift you.” —BookPage

“Elizabeth Crook has written an extraordinary novel—an eloquent love story born from an act of random violence, a tale of destruction and redemption. It's about making a whole life out of a damaged one, and about holding on and letting go. The characters are as real as people you know; their story is subtle, startling, and wise.” —SARAH BIRD, author of The Yokota Officers Club and Above the East China Sea

“Monday, Monday begins by throwing us into the midst of one of the worst mass murders in American history, a scene painted with such harrowing exactitude that it leaves you wondering how the characters can possibly survive and how the author can possibly sustain such a high level of narrative momentum and emotional insight. And yet Elizabeth Crook pulls it off. This is a brilliant and beautiful book.” —STEPHEN HARRIGAN, author of The Gates of the Alamo and Remember Ben Clayton

“In Monday, Monday, Elizabeth Crook uses vivid, gripping prose and in-depth historical research to shed light on one of the darkest moments in Texas history... by detailing the fictional lives of three survivors caught in the crosshairs.” —The Rivard Report

From the Publisher

Elizabeth Crook has written an extraordinary novel--an eloquent love story born from an act of random violence, a tale of destruction and redemption. It's about making a whole life out of a damaged one, and about holding on and letting go. The characters are as real as people you know; their story is subtle, startling, and wise.

author of The Yokota Officers Club and Above the E SARAH BIRD

This rapturous novel starts with one of the most heinous shootings in history, yet every page shines with life. Crook follows three students who endured the tragedy as they grapple with the past, struggle to navigate their futures, and discover that who and what saves us is nothing like what you imagine. Brilliantly realized and so vivid the novel seems to virtually breathe, Monday, Monday is a stunning achievement.

New York Times bestselling author of Is This Tomor Caroline Leavitt