The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty - Hardcover

Vendela Vida

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1782397698 ISBN 13: 9781782397694

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2015

Synopsis

"In Vendela Vida's taut and mesmerizing novel of ideas, a woman travels to Casablanca, Morocco, on mysterious business. While checking into her hotel, the woman is robbed of her wallet and passport-all of her money and identification. Though the police investigate, the woman senses an undercurrent of complicity between the hotel staff and the authorities-she knows she'll never recover her possessions. Stripped of her identity, she feels burdened by the crime yet strangely liberated by her sudden freedom to be anyone she chooses. A chance encounter with a movie producer leads to a job posing as a stand-in for a well-known film star. The star reels her in deeper, though, and soon she's inhabiting the actress's skin off set, too-going deeper into the Casablancan night and further from herself. And so continues a strange and breathtaking journey full of unexpected turns, an adventure in which the woman finds herself moving further and further away from the person she once was. Told with vibrant, lush detail and a wicked sense of humor, The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty is part literary mystery, part psychological thriller-an unforgettable novel that explores free will, power, and a woman's right to choose not her past, perhaps not her present, but certainly her future. This is Vendela Vida's most assured and ambitious novel yet."

About this title

Product Description:

Diver's Clothes Lie Empty

Review:

Ms Vida's novel portrays with cool wit and suspense the explosive emancipation of a woman who is finally empowered to grab some warmth, drama, magic for herself. -- New York Times
The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty is a chilling tale about the gradual loss of identity - a novel of doubles, invisibility and lies, poised somewhere between a fever-dream and a suspenseful thriller. Populated by a mysterious cast of shady women, Vendela Vida perfectly captures what it feels like to be unreal, especially to oneself, and grasping at roles in order to survive. --Sheila Heti, author of How Should A Person Be?
Vendela Vida has written a truly original novel, a work of art that shines with Buñuelian play and cruelty. The situation is discomfiting and addictive. You will be driven to read this novel compulsively, and then you will have the same strange sly smile that I do, now. --Rachel Kushner
You will tear through Vendela Vida's The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty, this wry, edgy, philosophical thriller, this love child of Albert Camus and Patricia Highsmith, this sly satire of Hollywood, this entertaining journey through the vast desert of identity and regret. --Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins
Reviews for Vendela Vida's previous works include:
Vida is capable of taking the breath away with her cool treatment of the unkind twists of one woman's fate.' Scotland on Sunday 'Thoughtful and evocative... I defy any reader not to cry at the ending' Observer 'Excellent... A moving work on the tumbling, overwhelming emotions.' Independent 'A stingingly acute portrait of grief, a moving meditation on love and a page-turning adventure.' Zoë Heller 'Masterful... I was so enthralled by the grief, the sticky and sandy details... that I didn't realize how deep in I was. I read the last page with a tearful gasp. --Miranda July
Vendela Vida's work is utterly compelling, surprising, economical, lush, beautifully written. Reading her inspires me, and reminds me of how powerful the novel can be - how addictive and vital - and of how rarely a writer as precise, artful, and passionate as her comes along. --George Saunders

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1782397698
• ISBN 13: 9781782397694
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224