Arcadia

Andrew Garman accomplishes a magnificent feat as he portrays a character named Bit over the course of 50 years. Born in a New York state hippie commune in the late 1960s, Bit evolves into a quiet, introspective man in post-9/11 New York City--a journey Groff weaves with lavish visual imagery and imagination. Bit witnesses the dissolution of his childhood utopia, mired in idealism and a love of nature. With subtlety, Garman voices Bit's youthful innocence, wonder, and frustration and then segues seamlessly to his muddled state as an adult. He is at once both joyous and tragic, a dichotomy that is utterly consistent with his unconventional upbringing. Garman's performance brings to light Bit's stark yet tender perceptions of the "real world's" humanity--"so fragile the social contract . . . the invisible tissue of civilization." A.W. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 21, 2011
Groff’s dark, lyrical examination of life on a commune follows Bit, aka Little Bit, aka Ridley Sorrel Stone, born in the late ’60s in a spot that will become Arcadia, a utopian community his parents help to form. Despite their idealistic goals, the family’s attempts at sustainability bring hunger, cold, illness, and injury. Bit’s vibrant mother retreats into herself each winter; caring for the community literally breaks his father’s back. The small, sensitive child whose purposeful lack of speech is sometimes mistaken for slowness finds comfort in Grimms’ fairy tales and is lost in the outside world once Arcadia’s increasingly entitled spiritual leader falls from grace and the community crumbles. Split between utopia and its aftermath, the book’s second half tracks the ways in which Bit, now an adult (he’s 50 when this all ends, in 2018), has been shaped by Arcadia; a career in photography was the perfect choice for a man who “watches life from a good distance.” Bit’s painful experiences as a husband, father, and son grow more harrowing as humanity becomes increasingly imperiled. The effective juxtaposition of past and future and Groff’s (Delicate Edible Birds) beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read. Agent: William Morris Endeavor.