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Panama

Thomas McGuane

1978142 pagesabout 2–3 hours
1978
first published
  • 1978Farrar, Straus, and Giroux · 175 pages · ENGISBN 9780374229429
  • 1978Penguin BooksISBN 9780140099089
  • 1978FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX. · 196 pages · ENG
  • 1979Penguin Books · 175 pages · ENGISBN 9780140052749
  • 1995Vintage Books · 175 pages · ENGISBN 9780679752912
  • 2015Farrar, Straus & Giroux · ENGISBN 9781466858305
  • 1990Minerva · 142 pagesISBN 9780749390617
  • 1992Christian Bourgois · 247 pagesISBN 9782267006964

Panama is the harrowing and hilarious story of a washed-up rock star with kamikaze passion in Key West—and is widely considered to be the most autobiographical novel of one of our most important Americal writers, the author of Ninety-two in the Shade and Cloudbursts Chester Pomeroy is a one-time rock star turned casualty of illicit substances. In the hands of Thomas McGuane, Chester's story is a high-wire act of extravagant emotion and steel-nerved prose. As he haunts Key West, pestering family, threatening a potential in-law with a .38, and attempting to crucify himself on his ex's door out of sheer lovesickness, Chester emerges as the pure archetype of the McGuane hero.

How it reads

Character focusSmall ensemble

Worth knowing

Romance levelSubplot

When and where

Content notes

  • Drug usemoderateunreviewed
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