The Gone-Away World (Vintage Contemporaries) - Softcover

Harkaway, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307389073 ISBN 13: 9780307389077

Publisher: Vintage, 2009

Synopsis

A hilarious, action-packed look at the apocalypse that combines a touching tale of friendship, a thrilling war story, and an all out kung-fu infused mission to save the world.

Gonzo Lubitch and his best friend have been inseparable since birth. They grew up together, they studied kung-fu together, they rebelled in college together, and they fought in the Go Away War together. Now, with the world in shambles and dark, nightmarish clouds billowing over the wastelands, they have been tapped for an incredibly perilous mission. But they quickly realize that this assignment is more complex than it seems, and before it is over they will have encountered everything from mimes, ninjas, and pirates to one ultra-sinister mastermind, whose only goal is world domination.

About this title

Review:

"A flat-out ferociously good novel.... Reads like a surrealist smashup of Pynchon and Pratchett, Vonnegut and Heller."

--Austin Chronicle

"Harkaway delivers plenty of action and surprises.... Likely to be this season's major conversation-starter."

--San Francisco Chronicle

"A gripping, satirical, postapocalyptic war epic populated with mimes, ninjas, bureaucrats, chimera, and gun-toting nerds."

--New YorkMagazine

"Very funny and hugely entertaining. . . . And brilliant. Read it."

--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Bewilders, amazes, entertains. . . . a Catch-22 for the 21st century. . . . a work of extraordinary imagination and charisma. . . genius"

--The New York Observer

"Leaves the reader gasping for both adjectives and description. It's a powerful and accomplished first novel that weaves elements of romance, mystery, SF/F and -- yes -- thriller together in a way that leaves no doubt that the master storyteller gene really is something that can be passed along."

--January Magazine

"Vivid and exciting. Harkaway manages to meld a vision of war more germane to today's world, and take it to its most horrifying, apocalyptic conclusion."

--Charleston City Paper

Book Description:

A wildly entertaining novel, introducing a bold new voice that combines antic humor (think Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut) with a stunning futuristic vision (a la A Clockwork Orange and 1984) to give us an electrifyingly original tale of love, friendship and the apocalypse.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0307389073
• ISBN 13: 9780307389077
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 592