Necessary Errors: A Novel

Author: Crain, Caleb

Color: Sky/Pale blue

Edition: First Edition

Features:

• Used Book in Good Condition

Format: Deckle Edge

Number Of Pages: 480

Details:

ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST BOOKS The Wall Street Journal • Slate • Kansas City Star • Flavorwire • Policy Mic • Buzzfeed“Necessary Errors is a very good novel, an enviably good one, and to read it is to relive all the anxieties and illusions and grand projects of one’s own youth.”—James Wood, The New YorkerThe exquisite debut novel by the author of Overthrow that brilliantly captures the lives and romances of young expatriates in newly democratic PragueIt’s October 1990. Jacob Putnam is young and full of ideas. He’s arrived a year too late to witness Czechoslovakia’s revolution, but he still hopes to find its spirit, somehow. He discovers a country at a crossroads between communism and capitalism, and a picturesque city overflowing with a vibrant, searching sense of possibility. As the men and women Jacob meets begin to fall in love with one another, no one turns out to be quite the same as the idea Jacob has of them—including Jacob himself. Necessary Errors is the long-awaited first novel from literary critic and journalist Caleb Crain. Shimmering and expansive, Crain’s prose richly captures the turbulent feelings and discoveries of youth as it stretches toward adulthood—the chance encounters that grow into lasting, unforgettable experiences and the surprises of our first ventures into a foreign world—and the treasure of living in Prague during an era of historic change. From Booklist In this novel set in Prague one year after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, young Harvard graduate and budding writer Jacob Putnam navigates the chaotic and exhilarating landscape of a city in transition. Living among a group of colorful expatriates while teaching English, he longs to identify the spirit of the revolution, but it seems forever out of his grasp. Having recently come out as a gay man in the U.S., Jacob at first feels uncomfortable with revealing his sexuality to his new friends and lives a secretive and lonely life. However, his eventual turn toward openness and pride mirrors the transformation of the city itself, as its citizens slowly adjust to their newfound freedom and growth in opportunity. In his first published novel, literary critic and journalist Crain creates a compelling and heartfelt story that captures both the boundless enthusiasm and naïveté of youth. In addition, the detailed descriptions of Prague and Czech culture, in general, are sure to please those interested in this fascinating period in Eastern European history. --Kerri Price

Reviews:

ONE OF THE YEAR'S BEST BOOKS • The Wall Street Journal • Slate • Kansas City Star • Flavorwire • Policy Mic • Buzzfeed • A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE

“ Necessary Errors is a very good novel, an enviably good one, and to read it is to relive all the anxieties and illusions and grand projects of one’s own youth.” —James Wood, The New Yorker

“Ferociously observed. . . . We’re not through with narratives about the Getting of Wisdom, Americans Abroad, Coming of Age, Gay Coming of Age, New Lost Generations. Among such works, a new narrative will be measured against Caleb Crain’s fine book, which will endure as a powerful entry in the great fictional exploration of the meanings of liberation.”

— Norman Rush, The New York Review of Books

“One of the remarkable things about [Crain's] rather remarkable first novel, Necessary Errors, is the way he makes ‘that thing’

— the experience of an idealistic young American abroad — feel newly revelatory and important. . . . He merely writes his characters and settings so well, with such precise attention to physical and psychological detail, that the reader feels introduced to a small world of people and places. . . .

Necessary Errors aims to vividly and carefully reconstruct a lost time. . . . Necessary Errors seems exceptional among recent American novels in how smartly it turns over the economic metaphors in so much American thinking.” —David Haglund, The New York Times

“Evocative. . . . Necessary Errors...

EAN: 9780143122418

Release Date: 06-08-2013

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Paperback Used - Very Good Ships fast! 2013First Edition

Item Condition: UsedVeryGood

Binding: Paperback