Safelight - Hardcover

Burke, Shannon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1400062012 ISBN 13: 9781400062010

Publisher: Random House Inc, 2004

Synopsis

As he struggles to come to terms with his father's death, Frank Verbeckas, a young paramedic and photographer immerses himself in a dark wasteland of violence, drugs, and crime in 1990s Manhattan, taking pictures as he wanders, accompanied by a colorful array of troubled characters. A first novel. 17,500 first printing.

About this title

Review:

""Safelight, Shannon Burke's novel of paramedics and violent death in New York's tougher quarters, is provoking and disturbing. How could it be otherwise? What is startling and unexpected, however, is that despite the unblinking, bloodstained photo-realism of its reportage, "Safelight is above all a work of nerveless intelligence, disarming tenderness, and hard-won optimism."
-JIM CRACE
"There is a dark side in all of us and Burke is not afraid of it. In "Safelight, he explores our all-too-human instincts without pity, condescension, or romance. He creates characters that are real, that feel, and that make us feel-and he does so with formidable grace. This book will make you cry. But it will be worth it."
-ALLISON GLOCK
"Burke immerses the reader in the urgent world of emergency medicine. Using photography sometimes as his weapon, sometimes as his moral eye, paramedic Frank Verbeckas explores the blurred lines between victim and victimizer, the criminal and the cop, as well as his own difficult past. It is a stunning debut novel about what it is to be human, to feel."
-A. M. HOMES

"A powerful, hypnotic, and strangely beautiful vision of hell on earth. Burke's voice floats out over our hemisphere amidst the distinctive strains of Denis Johnson, Raymond Carver, and Frederick Exley. But in the end, his frequency is all his own. A fearless debut."
-GARY SHTEYNGART
"Pitch-perfect dialogue and [a] feel for male camaraderie give ["Safelight] an electric charge. . . . Burke's evocation of a murky world, where savior and sinner come in one macho package, . . . makes this an exhilarating standout."
"Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"From the Hardcover edition.

""Safelight," Shannon Burke's novel of paramedics and violent death in New York's tougher quarters, is provoking and disturbing. How could it be otherwise? What is startling and unexpected, however, is that despite the unblinking, bloodstained photo-realism of its reportage, "Safelight" is above all a work of nerveless intelligence, disarming tenderness, and hard-won optimism."
-JIM CRACE
"There is a dark side in all of us and Burke is not afraid of it. In "Safelight," he explores our all-too-human instincts without pity, condescension, or romance. He creates characters that are real, that feel, and that make us feel-and he does so with formidable grace. This book will make you cry. But it will be worth it."
-ALLISON GLOCK
"Burke immerses the reader in the urgent world of emergency medicine. Using photography sometimes as his weapon, sometimes as his moral eye, paramedic Frank Verbeckas explores the blurred lines between victim and victimizer, the criminal and the cop, as well as his own difficult past. It is a stunning debut novel about what it is to be human, to feel."
-A. M. HOMES

"A powerful, hypnotic, and strangely beautiful vision of hell on earth. Burke's voice floats out over our hemisphere amidst the distinctive strains of Denis Johnson, Raymond Carver, and Frederick Exley. But in the end, his frequency is all his own. A fearless debut."
-GARY SHTEYNGART
"Pitch-perfect dialogue and [a] feel for male camaraderie give ["Safelight"] an electric charge. . . . Burke's evocation of a murky world, where savior and sinner come in one macho package, . . . makes this an exhilarating standout."
"Kirkus Reviews" (starred review)

"From the Hardcoveredition."

""Safelight, " Shannon Burke's novel of paramedics and violent death in New York's tougher quarters, is provoking and disturbing. How could it be otherwise? What is startling and unexpected, however, is that despite the unblinking, bloodstained photo-realism of its reportage, "Safelight" is above all a work of nerveless intelligence, disarming tenderness, and hard-won optimism."
-JIM CRACE

"There is a dark side in all of us and Burke is not afraid of it. In "Safelight", he explores our all-too-human instincts without pity, condescension, or romance. He creates characters that are real, that feel, and that make us feel-and he does so with formidable grace. This book will make you cry. But it will be worth it."
-ALLISON GLOCK

"Burke immerses the reader in the urgent world of emergency medicine. Using photography sometimes as his weapon, sometimes as his moral eye, paramedic Frank Verbeckas explores the blurred lines between victim and victimizer, the criminal and the cop, as well as his own difficult past. It is a stunning debut novel about what it is to be human, to feel."
-A. M. HOMES
"A powerful, hypnotic, and strangely beautiful vision of hell on earth. Burke's voice floats out over our hemisphere amidst the distinctive strains of Denis Johnson, Raymond Carver, and Frederick Exley. But in the end, his frequency is all his own. A fearless debut."
-GARY SHTEYNGART

"Pitch-perfect dialogue and [a] feel for male camaraderie give ["Safelight"] an electric charge. . . . Burke's evocation of a murky world, where savior and sinner come in one macho package, . . . makes this an exhilarating standout."
"Kirkus Reviews" (starred review)
"From the Hardcover edition."

"Safelight, Shannon Burke's novel of paramedics and violent death in New York's tougher quarters, is provoking and disturbing. How could it be otherwise? What is startling and unexpected, however, is that despite the unblinking, bloodstained photo-realism of its reportage, Safelight is above all a work of nerveless intelligence, disarming tenderness, and hard-won optimism."
-JIM CRACE
"There is a dark side in all of us and Burke is not afraid of it. In Safelight, he explores our all-too-human instincts without pity, condescension, or romance. He creates characters that are real, that feel, and that make us feel-and he does so with formidable grace. This book will make you cry. But it will be worth it."
-ALLISON GLOCK
"Burke immerses the reader in the urgent world of emergency medicine. Using photography sometimes as his weapon, sometimes as his moral eye, paramedic Frank Verbeckas explores the blurred lines between victim and victimizer, the criminal and the cop, as well as his own difficult past. It is a stunning debut novel about what it is to be human, to feel."
-A. M. HOMES

"A powerful, hypnotic, and strangely beautiful vision of hell on earth. Burke's voice floats out over our hemisphere amidst the distinctive strains of Denis Johnson, Raymond Carver, and Frederick Exley. But in the end, his frequency is all his own. A fearless debut."
-GARY SHTEYNGART
"Pitch-perfect dialogue and [a] feel for male camaraderie give [Safelight] an electric charge. . . . Burke's evocation of a murky world, where savior and sinner come in one macho package, . . . makes this an exhilarating standout."
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author:

SHANNON BURKE is a novelist and screenwriter. Before moving to his current home in Knoxville, he worked as a paramedic in Harlem and lived in Chicago; Chapel Hill; New Orleans; Los Angeles; Prescott, Arizona; Bryan, Texas; and Mexico. Safelight is his first novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Inc
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1400062012
• ISBN 13: 9781400062010
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 211