How the Dead Dream: A Novel - Hardcover

Millet, Lydia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1593761848 ISBN 13: 9781593761844

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2008

Synopsis

T. is a young Los Angeles real estate developer consumed by power and political ambitions. His orderly, upwardly mobile life is thrown into chaos by the sudden appearance of his nutty mother, who's been deserted by T.'s now out-of-the-closet father. After his mother's suicide attempt and two other deaths, T. finds himself increasingly estranged from his latest project: a retirement community in the middle of the California desert. As he juggles family, business, and social responsibilities, T. begins to nurture a curious obsession with vanishing species. Soon he's living a double life, building sprawling subdivisions by day and breaking into zoos at night to be near the animals. A series of calamities forces T. to a tropical island, where he takes a Conrad-esque journey up a river into the remote jungle. Millet's devastating wit, psychological acuity, and remarkable empathy for flawed humankind contend with her vision of a world slowly murdering itself.

About this title

Review:

"The finest book yet by one of my favourite contemporary American writers" (Jonathan Lethem)

"Permeated with a dark, irreverent humour" (Financial Times)

"Odd and compelling...surprising and funny...Millet is an interesting thinker" (Guardian)

"Bewitching" (Scotland on Sunday)

"Sad, strange and as jumpily shocking as an electric fence, How The Dead Dream brilliantly evokes a barren world in which human loneliness and environmental loss are inevitable consequences when a culture values capitalism over compassion" (Metro)

Book Description:

A brilliant, moving satire about human loneliness and endangered species, from one of America's most exciting voices.

About this edition

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1593761848
• ISBN 13: 9781593761844
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256