I received this great book to review from Algonquin. I picked it up and read the first 25 pages and I can tell I am going to like this book. I just wanted to post a little preview. This book comes out October 5th, 2010.
A Bit About Exley
For nine-year-old Miller, who lives with his mother in Watertown, New York, life has become a struggle to make sense of his father’s disappearance, for which he blames himself. Then, when he becomes convinced that he has found his father lying comatose in the local VA hospital, a victim of the war in Iraq, Miller begins a search for the one person he believes can save him, the famously reclusive — and, unfortunately, dead — Frederick Exley, a Watertown native and the author of his father’s favorite book, the “fictional memoir”
A Fan’s Notes. The story of Miller’s search, told by both Miller himself and his somewhat flaky therapist, ultimately becomes an exploration of the difference between what we believe to be real and what is in fact real, and how challenging it can be to reconcile the two.
Part literary satire, part mystery,
Exley unleashes the enormous talent of a writer whom critics have compared to Richard Ford and John Irving and whose work has been called “absurdly hilarious” (
Entertainment Weekly) and “wildly entertaining” (
Daily Candy).
A Bit About Brock Clarke:Brock Clarke is the author of two previous novels and two short story collections. He lives in Portland, Maine, and teaches at Bowdoin College.
A Bit of Praise:
EXLEY is already garnering early buzz, receiving a starred review from Kirkus: “Another literary high-wire performance by a novelist who is establishing himself as a unique voice in contemporary fiction ... A seriously playful novel about the interweave of literature and life.”
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