Incendiary - Hardcover

Cleave, Chris

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307262820 ISBN 13: 9780307262820

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2005

Synopsis

Distraught over the deaths of her husband and son in a suicide bombing at a London soccer match, a woman writes a letter to Osama bin Laden to persuade him to abandon his terror campaign and becomes embroiled in a psychological web of ambition, cynicism, and guilt that erodes her faith in society and pushes her to acts of extraordinary desperation as the city braces for another deadly bomb threat. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

""

“Cleave has achieved something rare. . . . [The narrator] will break your heart and remind you how, in the face of the uncontrollable and the inexplicable, humor can allow one to survive.”

—"San Francisco Chronicle"

""

“An audacious, provocative voice . . . [Cleave] has a clear and disturbing vision of the psychological effects of an attack on a city population.” —"The New York Times Book Review"

“Fiction can be a highly effective way of depicting terror... because fine writing – and "Incendiary" is a very fine example – is such an eloquent human instrument.” —"The Economist"

“Cleave...has a phenomenal talent for melodrama, a dishy, vicious sense of humor, and a sprinter’s force as a writer.” —"New York Observer"

“Sensitive, artful, and deft. . . . Cleave’s Orwellian look at the way we live is hyper-realistic, his narrator true to the point where one can almost hear her ragged breathing, smell the gin and tears on her breath. . . . A near-perfect debut that will give the reader nightmares that may seem far too real on waking.”—"The Sun" (Baltimore)

“The eloquence of Cleave’s heroine is equal to the atrocity that claims her family. She is by turns funny, sad, flawed, sympathetic, both damaged and indomitable, and triumphantly

convincing. ... The unnamed ‘I’ of "Incendiary" is a true survivor.” —"The Sunday Telegraph" (London)

""

"Cleave has achieved something rare. . . . [The narrator] will break your heart and remind you how, in the face of the uncontrollable and the inexplicable, humor can allow one to survive."

--"San Francisco Chronicle"

""

Fictioncanbeahighlyeffectivewayofdepictingterror becausefinewriting and"Incendiary"isaveryfineexample issuchaneloquenthumaninstrument. "TheEconomist"

TheeloquenceofCleave sheroineisequaltotheatrocitythatclaimsherfamily.Sheisbyturnsfunny, sad, flawed, sympathetic, bothdamagedandindomitable, andtriumphantlyconvincing. Theunnamed I of"Incendiary"isatruesurvivor. "TheSundayTelegraph"(London)

Cleave has achieved something rare. . . . [The narrator] will break your heart and remind you how, in the face of the uncontrollable and the inexplicable, humor can allow one to survive. San Francisco Chronicle

"

From the Publisher

A family ripped apart by terrible events. A novel of unspeakable terror, unbearable devastation - an unbounded love.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0307262820
• ISBN 13: 9780307262820
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 237