ALL SHALL BE WELL... A modern-day narrator with his head in medieval times makes for a timeless read
ALL SHALL BE WELL... A modern-day narrator with his head in medieval times makes for a timeless read
EW's GRADE
A

Details Release Date: Jan 29, 2008; Writer: Tod Wodicka; Genres: Fiction, History; Publisher: Pantheon

Burt Hecker, a hard-drinking, overweight 63-year-old widower, has a tendency to live in the past. Several hundred years in the past, actually — he's a medieval reenactor, an obsession that's taken a dramatic toll on his family. But Burt's also an elegant narrator, and his efforts to hurl himself into the present are chronicled with smart, casually poetic observations (''Lonna looks me over as if I were a product she had hoped would be bigger, or cheaper''). Even if Burt can't transcend time, Tod Wodicka's novel, All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well can. A

Originally posted Jan 25, 2008 Published in issue #976 Feb 01, 2008 Order article reprints

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