The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint – A Novel - Softcover

Udall, Brady

Softcover

ISBN 10: 039334164X ISBN 13: 9780393341645

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012

Synopsis

Rambling and generous . . . it reads at times like a John Irving novel touched up by Roy Blount Jr. . . . Sweet, sad, and refreshing. New York Times Book Review [Edgar s] soul is as spotless as John Wayne s .45, and so is Udall s sharp and rangy prose. His similes sting, his sentences go bang, and his chapters roll like the wagon wheels across the harsh Mormon desert of right and wrong. GQ Extraordinary. . . . There are pages that are just fall-down funny. . . . It s like nothing else you ve ever read. Newsweek Vibrant, big-hearted. . . . A poignant, picaresque odyssey. ? Chicago Tribune A marvelous first novel. . . . An adept mix of humor and pathos. Los Angeles Times An ingenious tale [that] takes its heart from Dickens and its soul from America s great outlaw West. Elle

About this title

Review:

Debut novelist Brady Udall's The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is a moving tragic-comedy that has been compared to the works of John Irving. The tender humour of this novel, coupled with subtly explored issues, makes this an outstanding read. Udall's prose style is engaging and refreshing, and the voice of the narrator is utterly convincing. When eight-year-old Edgar Mint gets his head squashed by a post van on the Apache reservation where he lives with his alcoholic mother, it is the beginning of a new life. Resurrected from near death by a junior doctor, Edgar find himself in a new environment, sharing a ward with three men in various states of serious injury, the focus of the hospital's attention and with no recollection of his previous life. So begins Edgar's journey.

This is essentially a rites of passage novel. But the passage that Edgar must take is more painful than most. With no memory and with only a typewriter for company, he faces alienation among his people, is disregarded as retarded and is shoved out of sight by white America to a tough school for troublesome reservation children. Edgar seeks the solace of acceptance or escape, anything to take him away from the suffering of being different, of being an outsider. By showing Edgar learning about himself, understanding the world around him, and experiencing everything again for the first time, Udall explores the big explosive themes of religion, race, identity and gender with a deft hand. There is nothing ham-fisted in his treatment of these issues. They are dealt with in a quiet but direct manner, through the eyes of a child coming to terms with the absurdity of humanity. This is, in some ways, also a rags-to-riches story and the notion of what exactly it is that enriches our lives is central. Edgar must first journey before he ultimately discovers this wealth. His journey is a search for identity, for the missing gaps in his life and it is only when all these gaps are filled that Edgar can discover his true worth. --Iain Robinson

Review:

Rambling and generous...it reads at times like a John Irving novel touched up by Roy Blount Jr....Sweet, sad, and refreshing.

[Edgar's] soul is as spotless as John Wayne's .45, and so is Udall's sharp and rangy prose. His similes sting, his sentences go bang, and his chapters roll like the wagon wheels across the harsh Mormon desert of right and wrong.

Extraordinary...There are pages that are just fall-down funny...It's like nothing else you've ever read.

Vibrant, big-hearted...A poignant, picaresque odyssey.

A marvelous first novel...An adept mix of humor and pathos.

Profound and stirring...brilliantly executed.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 039334164X
• ISBN 13: 9780393341645
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432