Ed King (Playaway Adult Fiction)

Guterson, David

ISBN 10: 1616378875 ISBN 13: 9781616378875

Publisher: Findaway World, 2011

Synopsis

In Seattle in 1962, Walter Cousins, a mild-mannered actuary takes a risk of his own, and makes the biggest error of his life. He sleeps with Diane Burroughs, the sexy, not-quite-legal British au pair who's taking care of his children for the summer. Diane gets pregnant and leaves their baby on a doorstep, but not before turning the tables on Walter and setting in motion a tragedy of epic proportions.

About this title

Review:

"Guterson . . . retells one of the oldest stories we know in a way that makes you hang on every twist and turn. You know where you're going, but the trip is such a literary sightseer's delight that you still enjoy every minute of it. . . . Even as you know your final destination, the route Guterson uses will keep you entertained the whole way. The way he makes Ed-ipus finally see, peeling the layers back one at a time, is ingenious. Guterson is one of America's most talented novelists. This time, he has taken on a daunting task and succeeded. . . . ["Ed King"]""should add to Guterson's already glittering reputation."
--Howard Owen, "Fredericksburg.com"
"Sweeping. . . "Ed King, "a reimagination of Sophocles'" 'Oedipus Rex, ' "the Greek tale of patricide and incest, is grounded in spot-on morality tales of exceedingly normal people who are doing their best to struggle through their middle- and upper-middle-class existence. . . . We meet the characters of "Ed King "in ensemble fashion. While their stories--and the bonds that connect them--are the stuff of sometimes far-fetched fiction, their personalities and behavior are all too believable. These are people more or less just like us. . . . Guterson clearly has made his bet on nature, not nurture. What's bred in the bone guides each character in this well-told tale. [Guterson's] portraits of humanity are real, and exceedingly enjoyable to read."
--Adam Lashinsky, "The San Francisco Chronicle
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"It takes a lot of nerve and perhaps a special brand of madness to take on the classics, and it doesn't get more classic than the ancient Greek tragedies . . . especially when the play in question happens to be Sophocles' magnum opus Oedipus the King. Yet with his latest novel, "Ed King," author David Guterson does what many might consider the unthinkable: brings Oedipus into the modern age. . . . It would be a shame to ruin all the twists and turns that Oedipus/Ed--who in Guterson's version becomes a celeb

"Brilliant. . . . Transcendently dark and dazzling." --"The Seattle Times "
"The ranks of dependably original novelists, who create radically new worlds again and again, then delight in tricking them up, are thin, but would certainly include Mitchell, Nicholson Baker, Thomas Pynchon, Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead and Jonathan Lethem. . . . This is the club where high concept is born--and with the publication of David Guterson's "Ed King" it has a surprising new member." --"The New York Times "
"Guterson succeeds in recasting one of literature's most haunted and vaunted tales as a plausible page-turner. . . . Compelling." --"USA Today "
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"Old stories survived millennia because they tell us about the human condition. Brave writers like Guterson can renew them." --"The Oregonian "
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"Daring. . . . Guterson keeps ["Ed King"] winningly good-natured and almost farcical, all the better to teach timeless lessons about hubris, ambition, and the consequences of long-ago sins." --"O, The Oprah Magazine "
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"Guterson takes the reader through a rollicking half-century of American hubris and gluttony." --"The New York Times "
"A tragic and darkly funny modern myth in an omnipotent, wry voice reminiscent of Philip Roth. . . . The Greeks weren't afraid to take on God, and neither is Guterson. . . . A master storyteller." --Bookreporter.com
"Guterson has managed to infuse this novel with feelings of freshness, relevance and even believability that are sure to delight 21st-century readers. A special pleasure will be experienced by those who can appreciate how the old elements have been modernized. Oedipus may not have been Guterson's to begin with, but by the end, readers will have no doubts that Ed King is a creation entirely his own." --"BookPage "
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"[Guterson's] portraits of humanity are real, and exceedingly enjoyable to read." --"San Francisco Chronicle "
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"A great story and a riveting read." --"The Daily Mail" (London)
"Sharply written." --"The Guardian" (London)
"David Guterson . . . retells one of the oldest stories we know in a way that makes you hang on every twist and turn. . . . A largely entertaining book that should add to Guterson's already glittering reputation." --"The Free Lance-Star "(Fredericksburg, VA)
""[Ed King] "has original characters, a race to discover the truth as gripping as the denouement of Daphne Du Maurier's "Rebecca," and some insights into human relationships so sharp that they make a reader cringe." --"The New York Journal of Books "

Book Description:

From the bestselling author of Snow Falling on Cedars, a dazzling, darkly funny, compulsively readable retelling of Sophocles's Oedipus Rex that takes us from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair to the twenty-first century headquarters of an Internet search giant.

About this edition

• Publisher: Findaway World
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1616378875
• ISBN 13: 9781616378875
• Binding: Preloaded Digital Audio Player