Centuries of June - Hardcover

Donohue, Keith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307450287 ISBN 13: 9780307450289

Publisher: Crown Pub, 2011

Synopsis

A darkly comic tale set in the bathroom of an old house at dawn follows the experiences of a man whose attempt to relate how he came to suffer a grave injury is interrupted by a sequence of eight women suspects who convey respective stories in the literary styles of various historical periods.

About this title

Review

"Part ghost story, part psychological mystery and part vaudeville show. Think Scheherazade by way of "Tristram Shandy" by way of "The Sixth Sense."--Washington Post

"A tour de force in its mastery of styles, the book also has moments of high silliness--though toward the end Donohue weaves the threads of plot together in a surprising and affecting way."--Kirkus Reviews

"Donohue's faultless eye for character and keen sense of humor keeps what could easily become a muddled mess pristine, with members of his quorum shining individually but also acting as cogs in the larger story's machinery. There are moments when the reader is left to wonder how things can possibly come together, but it's worthwhile to trust Donohue's narrators as they lead this puzzling and greatly satisfying trip."--Publishers Weekly

"Donohue's polished prose holds the story together and offers a more than satisfying ending."--Booklist

"VERDICT: Donohue's tour de force blends aspects of time travel and reincarnation genres into a witty whole. With a touch of David Mitchell and Audrey Niffenegger, but a witty style uniquely the author's own, this novel about a clueless man, who may in some future life get it right, is a pleasure to read."--Library Journal

"[T]he product here is uniquely Donohue, and the craft seamless in the spinning of an absorbing skein of yarns in a marvelous display of voice weaving together to form a single tapestry: a "parti-colored utterance" (to quote Annie Dillard) unfolding about love, mortality, men and women, memory, family, and the fundamental force of storytelling." --Buffalo News

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Keith Donohue is the author of the acclaimed novels The Stolen Child and Angels of Destruction. For several years he was a speechwriter at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., and he now works at another federal agency. He lives with his family in Wheaton, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown Pub
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0307450287
• ISBN 13: 9780307450289
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 342