A tour de force -- with this book, Rick Moody, in one bound, lands in the very front rank of American writers. * When a dying old woman who is losing her ability to communicate with the outside world is deserted by her husband, it is to her stuttering, alcoholic son that she must look for help. * Purple America arcs perfectly across one long, long day in New England, where, as the local nuclear plant enters meltdown, a smaller, more tragic fission is taking place in the heart of a nuclear family.