The Lost Highway

What had happened, from those days until now? And why had it? And how had his life gone? And who was to blame? Or why did he think he had to blame anyone? Certainly he couldn't even blame Mr. Roach, caught in the same turmoil as everyone believing half-truths in order to blame other people. (p. 141)These are the forlorn thoughts of Alex Chapman, the tragic anti-hero of David Adams Richards' masterful novel The Lost Highway. An exploration of the philosophical contortions of which man is capable, the novel tracks the desperate journey of an eternally lost and orphaned child/man who has nearly squandered his frail birthright but might yet earn some degree of redemption.Alex spent a stunted childhood watching his gentle mother defiled by rough-handed men including Roach, his biological father. Upon his mother's death Alex is passed into the care of his hard-nosed great-uncle Jim Chapman, nicknamed "The Tyrant" by their Miramichi community. Alex's uncle becomes a symbol of all that he loathes. Alex distinguishes himself from this brutal masculinity that stole his mother from himby becoming a self-imposed ascetic, entering the local seminary and rehearsing his own version of piousness. But when he is tempted by the Monsignor's request to deliver charitable funds to the bank, Alex pockets the money and flees to the home of Minnie, whom he worships and who he has learned is now pregnant by Sam Patch, a good man, but too rough in Alex's eyes. He attempt