Legend of a Suicide
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd
Published:29th Oct '09
Should be back in stock very soon
Revolving around a fatally misconceived adventure deep in the wilderness of Alaska, this is a remarkably tender story of loss, survival and disillusioned love.
Roy is still young when his father, a failed dentist and hapless fisherman, commits suicide on the deck of his boat. Throughout his life, Roy returns to that moment, gripped by its memory and the shadow it casts over his small-town boyhood. Finally, Roy lays his father's ghost to rest. But not before he exacts a gruelling, exhilarating revenge.
Roy is still young when his father, a failed dentist and hapless fisherman, puts a .44 magnum to his head and commits suicide on the deck of his beloved boat. Throughout his life, Roy returns to that moment, gripped by its memory and the shadow it casts over his small-town boyhood, describing with poignant, mercurial wit his parents' woeful marriage and inevitable divorce, their kindnesses and weaknesses, the absurd and comic turning-points of his past. Finally, in Legend of a Suicide, Roy lays his father's ghost to rest. But not before he exacts a gruelling, exhilarating revenge.
Revolving around a fatally misconceived adventure deep in the wilderness of Alaska, this is a remarkably tender story of survival and disillusioned love.
An extraordinary, ground-breaking piece of fiction ... Nothing quite like this book has been written before * Alex Linklater, Observer *
A richly gifted newcomer * Sunday Times Books for 2009 *
Vann uses startling powers of observation to create strong characters, tense scenes and genuine surprises * Publishers’ Weekly *
Oh my god, Legend of a Suicide just bowled me over completely. It is such a tender, heartbreaking, breathtaking, horrifying and insanely compelling read that when I finished it I went straight back to the beginning and round again. I implore anyone with functioning eyes to read this book * Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine *
So hard to put down that I am thinking of suing David Vann for several hours of lost sleep * Lionel Shriver *
This book squeezes more life out of the first hundred pages than most books could manage in a thousand, which is pretty impressive, considering it's a book about death * Ross Raisin, author of God's Own Country *
In his portrayal of a young son's love for his lost father David Vann has created a stunning work of fiction: surprising, beautiful and intensely moving * Nadeem Aslam, author of Maps for Lost Lovers *
One of the most gripping debuts I've ever read * Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan *
Impossible to put down and equally impossible to forget * San Francisco Chronicle *
An American classic ... harrowing but beautifully wrought ... prose as clear and bracing as a mountain stream * Sunday Times *
ISBN: 9780141043784
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm
Weight: 170g
240 pages