A Cure for Suicide: A Novel

Author: Ball, Jesse

Edition: 1st Edition

Number Of Pages: 256

Details:

***LONG-LISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD*** From the author of Silence Once Begun, a beguiling new novel about a man starting over at the most basic level, and the strange woman who insinuates herself into his life and memory. A man and a woman have moved into a small house in a small village. The woman is an “examiner,” the man, her “claimant.” The examiner is both doctor and guide, charged with teaching the claimant a series of simple functions: this is a chair, this is a fork, this is how you meet people. She makes notes in her journal about his progress: he is showing improvement yet his dreams are troubling. One day the examiner brings the claimant to a party, where he meets Hilda, a charismatic but volatile woman whose surprising assertions throw everything the claimant has learned into question. What is this village? Why is he here? And who is Hilda? A fascinating novel of love, illness, despair, and betrayal, A Cure for Suicide is the most captivating novel yet from one of our most audacious and original young writers.

Reviews:

“Elegant, spellbinding . . . With the simplicity of a fable and the drama of a psychological thriller, Ball tells a story about starting over from nothing, reconstructing life from its most basic elements. These acts of narrative deconstruction highlight his strengths as a deeply questioning writer at home in fact as much as abstraction . . . There is yearning at the core of A Cure for Suicide and in that yearning is the reason for carrying on when doing so feels impossible. Balls asks whether, given the chance to start over with the mind of a child, we would want to do so—to what extent pain informs identity, and what parts of us would remain were we to shed that pain . . . Ball deftly explores questions with the eye of a poet and the logic of a philosopher, revealing new facets with perfect timing and acuity. At each unforeseeable turn, A Cure for Suicide is a story Ball ensures we understand and, because it is subtle and breathtaking, we are happy to be told.” —Sarah Gerard, The New York Times Book Review

“War doesn’t exist anymore, and neither do prisons, in the seemingly not-so-distant future where Jesse Ball’s magnetic, suspenseful, occasionally heart-rending fifth novel, A Cure for Suicide, unfolds . . . There are echoes of the Peter Weir movie The Truman Show and the Tom McCarthy novel Remainder . . . Seeded with humor . . . Ball also weaves in romance—the sweet triumph of a resilient heart . . . Hypnotic.” —Laura Collins-Hughes, The Boston Globe

“Ball . . . craft[s] a full, satiating story . . . A rich, tragic love story . . . The heart of the claimant’s motivations—a dense kernel buried and reshaped by the Process of the Villages—is revealed, richly adorned with sensuous scenes . . . Ball is commenting on the texture of our strongest memories—jagged rocks that jut out amid the steady tide of daily life . . . An enthralling thought experiment that considers the value of memory versus the pain of grief.” —Maddie Crum, The Huffington Post  

“Ball, also a poet, writes with a restrained specificity, his language so precise and clinical that it compounds into lyricism.” —Natalie Beach, O Magazine

“This dystopian novel from Ball is both a puzzle box and a haunting love story . . . Each section illuminates the characters and situations from the previous portions, which draws the reader into the material more effectively and heartbreakingly than a traditional structure would allow . . . Whatever the source of this book’s elusive magic, it should cement Ball’s reputation as a technical innovator whose work delivers a powerful emotional impact.”

— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“There are few things more tantalizing, more compelling, than wondering what the hell is going on… Hushed, enigmatic . . . Elegant . . . This turns out to be a love story about a penniless man and a rich, dying woman, and it’s one of the finest things Ball has ever writte...

EAN: 9781101870129

Release Date: 21-07-2015

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Very Good Ships fast! 20151st Edition

Item Condition: UsedVeryGood

Binding: Hardcover