The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

Larsen, Reif

ISBN 10: 1594202176 / ISBN 13: 9781594202179

Published by The Penguin Press, New York, 2009

About this Item

A charming First Edition, First Printing copy signed for Parrish Books by author Reif Larsen on the title page. In fine condition, book is bound in spotless tan and brown paper boards. Reflective sparrow motif on front cover artfully matches spine title. Tightly bound in unread condition, clean and crisp pages throughout with illustrations in fine condition. Dust jacket intact and in fine condition, complete with protective archival cover. A stunning debut novel that Stephen King calls "a treasure". A smart, funny and highly anticipated and praised by the publishing world. With its delightful combination of text, maps and diagrams this is a book like no other. A lovely edition. Fine - As New in Archival Plastic.

Seller Inventory # 3678

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet
• Publisher: The Penguin Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1594202176
• ISBN 13: 9781594202179
• Binding: Paper Boards
• Illustrator: Larsen, Reif
• Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
• Condition: Fine - As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • FICTION
  • Signed Books less than $300

About this title

Synopsis

A brilliant, boundary-leaping debut novel tracing twelve-year-old genius map maker T.S. Spivet's attempts to understand the ways of the world

When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal-if you consider mapping family dinner table conversation normal-is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T.S. from his family ranch just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum's hallowed halls.

T.S. sets out alone, leaving before dawn with a plan to hop a freight train and hobo east. Once aboard, his adventures step into high gear and he meticulously maps, charts, and illustrates his exploits, documenting mythical wormholes in the Midwest, the urban phenomenon of "rims," and the pleasures of McDonald's, among other things. We come to see the world through T.S.'s eyes and in his thorough investigation of the outside world he also reveals himself.

As he travels away from the ranch and his family we learn how the journey also brings him closer to home. A secret family history found within his luggage tells the story of T.S.'s ancestors and their long-ago passage west, offering profound insight into the family he left behind and his role within it. As T.S. reads he discovers the sometimes shadowy boundary between fact and fiction and realizes that, for all his analytical rigor, the world around him is a mystery.

All that he has learned is tested when he arrives at the capital to claim his prize and is welcomed into science's inner circle. For all its shine, fame seems more highly valued than ideas in this new world and friends are hard to find.

T.S.'s trip begins at the Copper Top Ranch and the last known place he stands is Washington, D.C., but his journey's movement is far harder to track: How do you map the delicate lessons learned about family and self? How do you depict how it feels to first venture out on your own? Is there a definitive way to communicate the ebbs and tides of heartbreak, loss, loneliness, love? These are the questions that strike at the core of this very special debut.

Now a major motion picture directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Kyle Catlett and Helena Bonham Carter. 

About the Authors

Reif Larsen's first novel, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into twenty-seven languages. A Montana Honor book, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet was a finalist for the IndieBound Award, was short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and is currently being released as a film in France and the United States.

Reif Larsen's first novel, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet, was a New York Times bestseller and has been translated into twenty-seven languages. A Montana Honor book, The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet was a finalist for the IndieBound Award, was short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was released as a film in France and the United States.