The Book of Life - Softcover

Nadler, Stuart

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1447202422 ISBN 13: 9781447202424

Publisher: Picador, 2012

Synopsis

He was not the sort of man to do such a thing. This was something he knew, unquestionably, deep in his heart. If ever he was to turn into one of these men, he would not do it with the daughter of his best friend, however terrific she looked in her skirt and blouse, and then, later, without her skirt and blouse.

In The Book of Life, as in life, moments of unsettling tension and grief sit alongside those of humour and happiness. There are uncompromisingly awkward situations, there are tales of broken bonds and the struggle for redemption, and there are huge betrayals – including the man who sleeps with his best friend’s daughter.

Stuart Nadler is a fresh voice, a writer in the great American tradition, but one who emerges from the shadows – of Updike, of Bellow, of Cheever – and stakes his own bold and exciting claim.

‘Funny and tragic and old-fashioned and brand spanking new, all at once.’ Oprah Magazine ‘Find of the Month’

‘Betrayal and forgiveness infuse this impressive debut collection . . . Nadler skillfully creates characters whose failures and faults make them comically, endearingly human.’ New Yorker

About this title

Review

'The disconsolate middle-aged New England men in Stuart Nadler s debut short collection, The Book of Life, have Updikean and Salteresque set ups... Nadler s keen sensitivity to inter-generational continuities, and to the breakdown of Judaism and marriage as moral compasses, give him a distinctive place in contemporary American fiction, one shared only by Nathan Englander.' --Times Literary Supplement

Stuart Nadler is a great writer... Nadler is a master of the withheld detail. His debut...is propelled by the small-scale opera of normal life: affairs, divorces, filial decay, more affairs. Words like rare , poignant and utterly absorbing were thrown around Stateside when the book was released there last year, and it s hard to disagree. Nadler s prose is airtight, his characters coloured-in with a careful, attentive hand. These may be short stories, but they re no mere sketches. Perhaps most impressive, however, is the amount of plot Nadler manages to eke out of so few words... The seven stories here comprise a coherent, even complete whole. Fans of both the short story and the novel will find plenty of sustenance. --Time Out

In Judeo-Christian mythology, the Book of Life is said to contain the names of everyone who is destined for Heaven. If that book turns out to be as inclusive as Stuart Nadler s debut collection of short stories, then we can all rest a little easier, for the inhabitants of these seven perfectly crafted stories are flawed, depressed, lonely men and women, given to adultery, despondency and all-round imperfection. These aren t saints, thank God... In these stories even a slight ripple can build into a life-changing swell... Nadler s sentences are crisp, clear, and invisibly freighted with nuance... Like all great short story writers, Nadler can make his characters whole with the minimal amount of gesturing. --Financial Times

Book Description

A brilliant debut about faith, family, grief, love, temptation and redemption from a striking and original American voice

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1447202422
• ISBN 13: 9781447202424
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256