BAUMAN, Bruce

PERSONAL: Married Suzan Woodruff (an artist).

ADDRESSES: Home—Los Angeles, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Other Press, 307 7th Ave., Ste. 1807, New York, NY 10001.

CAREER: Educator, editor, and writer. Formerly worked in advertising; Black Clock, associate editor; CalArts, Valencia, CA, adjunct professor in creative-writing program.

WRITINGS:

And the Word Was (novel), Other Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to Web sites, periodicals, and anthologies, including Salon, Bookforum, and BOMB.

SIDELIGHTS: Los Angeles-based writer Bruce Bauman explores themes of faith and loss in his debut work of fiction, And the Word Was. The novel focuses on Dr. Neil Downs, who is visited by tragedy in the form of the fatal shooting of his nine-year-old son, Castor, in a brutal school massacre. A hospital emergency-room physician, Downs is on duty when the victims of the tragedy arrive, and is present at his son's death. The pain of the situation is only compounded when the press chooses to focus on the unusual circumstances. Eventually Downs and his wife, a painter, escape to India in an effort to get over their loss and rebuild their lives.

Reviewers agreed upon the ambition undergirding Bauman's narrative, if not on the success of his attempt. Maureen Neville, in a review of And the Word Was for Library Journal, found the book difficult, remarking that, "just as Neil strives to make sense of his changed life, so the reader must pull together the story's threads." Nonetheless, Neville dubbed the book "a brave work." A contributor to Kirkus Reviews commented that the "background story is rendered with such emotional power that a reader can overlook blunders in style," and Debi Lewis, writing in Booklist, called Bauman's novel "a magnificent debut, smart and intense, but accessible and riveting." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly stated that, "despite the bumpy narrative," And the Word Was "explores some difficult emotional and theological territory."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2005, Debi Lewis, review of And the Word Was, p. 938.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2005, review of And the Word Was, p. 4.

Library Journal, December 1, 2004, Maureen Neville, review of And the Word Was, p. 97.

Publishers Weekly, February 28, 2005, review of And the Word Was, p. 44.

ONLINE

Other Press Web site, http://www.otherpress.com/ (May 16, 2005), "Bruce Bauman."