3.0
Your Fathers, where are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? A Novel
by Dave Eggers
In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at the chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
And so begins Dave Eggers's tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man, struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
'Politically and polemically engaged in the tradition of Dickens and Zola . . . another novel located in a frightened, divided, deceitful and possibly disintegrating America . . . Many skillfully delayed revelations . . . privately and publicly astute, confirming that the writer's joke about genius in his debut title was not entirely misplaced.' The Gaurdian
'Eggers can write about pretty much anything and make it glitter and somersault on the page . . . dazzling and highly original.' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
'Possibly the most admired and emulated American author of his generation.' Independent
'One of the country's leading literary eminences.' Washington Post
' A story about someone who takes revenge against the world because he can't fathom how he fits into it. . . This is a one-sitting read . . . Insightful.' USA Today
'The faint echo of Plato's dialogues . . . Raising questions about the appropriate relationship between authority and compassion.' Kirkus
'As is always true with Eggers, those ideas - laid out here in quasi-Socratic dialogue - are inherently interesting. I can think of few contemporary American writers who convey such a sense of urgency about the mess we're in - or how important it is that we, like the Israelites surrounding Zechariah, resurrect the once-glorious Temple. Eggers pulls no punches. . . Eggers makes these points even as he simultaneously manages empathy for Thomas' plight, as a man who has inherited a fallen world he never made.' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
'A jazz session - a brief, single helping of strangeness that flaunts his panache for stylistic experimentation. . . The writing is compelling and the characterization astute.' Booklist
'. . . as much a play as a novel, except there is no direction, no indication of action or scene beyond what the characters describe. So deft is he, however, that the setting and mood are perfectly clear..Eggers writes so well you would read a computer manual if it was by him, but beneath his beguiling style is a base note of genuine concern about those who find themselves out of kilter with society.' The Herald
'His latest novella, Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? stretches his toying with literary forms to new lengths...... compelling.' Evening Standard
'I've never read a novel quite like this . . . Let's say it's a very interesting novel. But when has our Dave done anything uninteresting?' The Times
FictionPsychologicalPolitical
RELEASED2014
PUBLISHERPenguin Books, Limited
LENGTH212
LANGUAGEEN
.jpg)
Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, Zeitoun, a nonfiction account of a Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina and What Is the What, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. That book, about Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of the civil war in southern Sudan, gave birth to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, run by Mr. Deng and dedicated to building secondary schools in southern Sudan. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal, a monthly magazine (The Believer), and Wholphin, a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries. In 2002, with Nínive Calegari he co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, Seattle, and Boston. In 2004, Eggers taught at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and there, with Dr. Lola Vollen, he co-founded Voice of Witness, a series of books using oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. A native of Chicago, Eggers graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children. [Source][1] [1]: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/pages/about-dave-eggers
3.0
Your Fathers, where are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? A Novel
by Dave Eggers
In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at the chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
And so begins Dave Eggers's tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man, struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
'Politically and polemically engaged in the tradition of Dickens and Zola . . . another novel located in a frightened, divided, deceitful and possibly disintegrating America . . . Many skillfully delayed revelations . . . privately and publicly astute, confirming that the writer's joke about genius in his debut title was not entirely misplaced.' The Gaurdian
'Eggers can write about pretty much anything and make it glitter and somersault on the page . . . dazzling and highly original.' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
'Possibly the most admired and emulated American author of his generation.' Independent
'One of the country's leading literary eminences.' Washington Post
' A story about someone who takes revenge against the world because he can't fathom how he fits into it. . . This is a one-sitting read . . . Insightful.' USA Today
'The faint echo of Plato's dialogues . . . Raising questions about the appropriate relationship between authority and compassion.' Kirkus
'As is always true with Eggers, those ideas - laid out here in quasi-Socratic dialogue - are inherently interesting. I can think of few contemporary American writers who convey such a sense of urgency about the mess we're in - or how important it is that we, like the Israelites surrounding Zechariah, resurrect the once-glorious Temple. Eggers pulls no punches. . . Eggers makes these points even as he simultaneously manages empathy for Thomas' plight, as a man who has inherited a fallen world he never made.' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
'A jazz session - a brief, single helping of strangeness that flaunts his panache for stylistic experimentation. . . The writing is compelling and the characterization astute.' Booklist
'. . . as much a play as a novel, except there is no direction, no indication of action or scene beyond what the characters describe. So deft is he, however, that the setting and mood are perfectly clear..Eggers writes so well you would read a computer manual if it was by him, but beneath his beguiling style is a base note of genuine concern about those who find themselves out of kilter with society.' The Herald
'His latest novella, Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? stretches his toying with literary forms to new lengths...... compelling.' Evening Standard
'I've never read a novel quite like this . . . Let's say it's a very interesting novel. But when has our Dave done anything uninteresting?' The Times
FictionPsychologicalPolitical
RELEASED2014
PUBLISHERPenguin Books, Limited
LENGTH212
LANGUAGEEN
Dave Eggers is the author of six previous books, including his most recent, Zeitoun, a nonfiction account of a Syrian-American immigrant and his extraordinary experience during Hurricane Katrina and What Is the What, a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award. That book, about Valentino Achak Deng, a survivor of the civil war in southern Sudan, gave birth to the Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, run by Mr. Deng and dedicated to building secondary schools in southern Sudan. Eggers is the founder and editor of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house based in San Francisco that produces a quarterly journal, a monthly magazine (The Believer), and Wholphin, a quarterly DVD of short films and documentaries. In 2002, with Nínive Calegari he co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center for youth in the Mission District of San Francisco. Local communities have since opened sister 826 centers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, Seattle, and Boston. In 2004, Eggers taught at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and there, with Dr. Lola Vollen, he co-founded Voice of Witness, a series of books using oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. A native of Chicago, Eggers graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two children. [Source][1] [1]: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/pages/about-dave-eggers
