News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, March 6, 2014

At Long Last, We've Finally Found Reston: The Novel

CoverA book that talks about post-9/11 anxieties and earth tones? That's the concept, maybe, behind The End of the City, the first novel by David Bendernagel, who was raised in Reston but inexplicably now lives on the other side of the country.

But if there is a main character in this novel, which we haven't read beyond the first two chapters available online, it's definitely Reston. Check out this call me Ishmael-worthy opening:


Excerpt
And if you like your probing character studies interspersed with web blog-like jabs at our 1970s planned community, you've found your book:

Excerpt2
Of course, we have to offer one critique: The cover. We mean, goldenrod is definitely not a DRB-approved color -- which would undoubtedly cause problems if there was still a (new) bookstore in Reston. Since there's not, you'll have to settle for the guilty pleasure of the glare of the unauthorized yellow washing over you on your, whazzitcalled, Kindle, the end.

6 comments:

  1. Apparently Restonian didn't get the message: Reston IS fictional. It's filled with glorious hyperbole--world class, sustainable, livable, "live, work, play", kumbaya, and so on--that have little to do with the gritty Potemkin reality on the ground.

    Now we just have documentary evidence!

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  2. campers' t-shirts are yellow.

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  3. Bowling for BollardsMarch 7, 2014 at 9:36 PM

    The highway "shines like a salmon ladder?" I'm a little light on knowledge about salmon and best practices for fisheries, but really...?

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  4. Call me Bob. It was the best of DRBs, it was the worst of DRBs. It was a dark and stormy shade of taupe.

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    Replies
    1. ...And tomorrow is another day!

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