Items related to THE GREAT PERHAPS TPB
Meet the Caspers, a family beset by cowardice and anxiety. Jonathan is a palaeontologist, searching in vain for a prehistoric squid. His wife, Madeline, an animal behaviourist, cannot explain why the pigeons she is studying are becoming increasingly aggressive. Their older daughter Amelia is a disappointed teenage revolutionary, while their younger, Thisbe, has become a devout Christian. Meanwhile, the girls’ grandfather, Henry, is slowly absenting himself from life: each day he gives away a possession and speaks one word fewer, until the time comes when he will have spoken his last ever word. Before that can happen, however, Jonathan and Madeline decide to separate – and, suddenly, each family member has to confront their fears about the world in which they live.
Set in the run-up to the 2004 US presidential election, The Great Perhaps is a tale of the nuclear family in the nuclear age; a witty, revealing story about just how complicated and ambiguous modern life can be.
'Darkly funny, lyrical and shrewdly observant' Tom Perrotta
'A big, generous-hearted American family novel . . . Meno's characters bristle with humanity, and I think this book will find a huge audience for its wisdom and life-affirming, but unsentimental, qualities' Irvine Welsh, Daily Telegraph
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
'If the first 100 pages are anything to go by, it's going to be a winner. Sharp and fluent, the prose is really a delight.' --The Bookseller
'The Great Perhaps is no ordinary comic novel. Meno transcends the genre by taking us back to the grandfather's harsh beginnings, and to the lives of previous generations of Caspers. His ability to connect these disparate strands into one story sets him above the average contemporary writer, and his sudden flights of fancy are irresistible.'
--The Bookseller
'Laugh-out-loud funny but frequently sad, Joe Meno's new novel runs the gamut of emotions and techniques as it depicts a Chicago family in turmoil... They achieve no earth-shattering insights, and neither does the author; he simply reminds us with wit and compassion that the human condition is "both astonishing and quite ordinary."' --Chicago Tribune
'Meno's distinctively imaginative and compassionate fiction is forged at the intersection of ordinariness and astonishment... Tender, funny, spooky, and gripping, Meno's novel encompasses a subtle yet devastating critique of war; sensitively traces the ripple effect of a dark legacy of nebulousness, guilt, and fear; and evokes both heartache and wonder.' --Booklist
'Meno's handle on the written word is fresh and inviting, conjuring a story that delves deeply into the human heart.' --Publisher's Weekly
`The Great Perhaps focuses on the American family, devoting consecutive comic chapters to each member as they struggle to understand the world.'
--Vogue
`the incredibly funny story of 48-year-old American Jonathan Casper and his wife and teenage daughters as they cope, each in their own strange way, with marital separation and Jonathan's eccentric, ailing father. . . this highly original and surprisingly poignant novel.'
--Image magazine
`[it] combines narrative steel, human conviction and a thoughtful examination of the contemporary family. Meno's compassion and understanding is broad, yet intimate . . . With a keen sense of phrasing, and a perfect ear for dialogue - especially teenage speech - Meno has created a refreshingly readable, subtle and intelligent novel. It more than steps out of the shadow cast by The Corrections.' --Independent
`This is a funny, touching novel, but there is wisdom amid the absurdity, as Meno exposes the pitfalls of our soundbite culture and shows the impossibility of finding simple answers in a frightening, war-torn world.' --Waterstone's Books Quarterly
`This is a shrewd and original look at the American nuclear family . . . This is the first time that American author Joe Meno has been published here and we're all the richer for it . . . This is perfect book club fodder or for anyone that wants an imaginative distraction from their daily commute.'
--Stylist
`This big, wise, funny novel about one modern family has been compared to The Corrections because it explores similar territory and because it's very good . . . Brilliant' --The Times
`Meno's fifth book manages to mix all-too-real scenes from family life with disturbingly surreal episodes, the whole underscored by the undefined guilt and anxiety that are ever present in developed Western society. Not to be missed.' --Daily Mail
`as a comic novel, The Great Perhaps is a plausibly 21st-century version of Tristram Shandy, leading us to the inexorable conclusion that the human condition remains an absurd, faltering but essential defiance of tragedy.'
--Sunday Herald
`Each character's voice is convincing, and Meno builds a playful but heartfelt portrait of a not-quite-nuclear family wrangling with the eternal questions of love, life and obsessively following clouds that look like gigantic walking men.'
--Dazed & Confused
'The flat, uninfected language, interspersed with sudden absurdist flights of fancy, is reminiscent of of Kurt Vonnegut; the comic-book influence contains traces of Jonathan Lethem; while the forensic examination of familial dysfunction should satisfy Franzen fans.' --Guardian
Book Description:
'The Great Perhaps is no ordinary comic novel. Meno transcends the genre by taking us back to the grandfather's harsh beginnings, and to the lives of previous generations of Caspers. His ability to connect these disparate strands into one story sets him above the average contemporary writer, and his sudden flights of fancy are irresistible.'
--The Bookseller
'Laugh-out-loud funny but frequently sad, Joe Meno's new novel runs the gamut of emotions and techniques as it depicts a Chicago family in turmoil... They achieve no earth-shattering insights, and neither does the author; he simply reminds us with wit and compassion that the human condition is "both astonishing and quite ordinary."' --Chicago Tribune
'Meno's distinctively imaginative and compassionate fiction is forged at the intersection of ordinariness and astonishment... Tender, funny, spooky, and gripping, Meno's novel encompasses a subtle yet devastating critique of war; sensitively traces the ripple effect of a dark legacy of nebulousness, guilt, and fear; and evokes both heartache and wonder.' --Booklist
'Meno's handle on the written word is fresh and inviting, conjuring a story that delves deeply into the human heart.' --Publisher's Weekly
`The Great Perhaps focuses on the American family, devoting consecutive comic chapters to each member as they struggle to understand the world.'
--Vogue
`the incredibly funny story of 48-year-old American Jonathan Casper and his wife and teenage daughters as they cope, each in their own strange way, with marital separation and Jonathan's eccentric, ailing father. . . this highly original and surprisingly poignant novel.'
--Image magazine
`[it] combines narrative steel, human conviction and a thoughtful examination of the contemporary family. Meno's compassion and understanding is broad, yet intimate . . . With a keen sense of phrasing, and a perfect ear for dialogue - especially teenage speech - Meno has created a refreshingly readable, subtle and intelligent novel. It more than steps out of the shadow cast by The Corrections.' --Independent
`This is a funny, touching novel, but there is wisdom amid the absurdity, as Meno exposes the pitfalls of our soundbite culture and shows the impossibility of finding simple answers in a frightening, war-torn world.' --Waterstone's Books Quarterly
`This is a shrewd and original look at the American nuclear family . . . This is the first time that American author Joe Meno has been published here and we're all the richer for it . . . This is perfect book club fodder or for anyone that wants an imaginative distraction from their daily commute.'
--Stylist
`This big, wise, funny novel about one modern family has been compared to The Corrections because it explores similar territory and because it's very good . . . Brilliant' --The Times
`Meno's fifth book manages to mix all-too-real scenes from family life with disturbingly surreal episodes, the whole underscored by the undefined guilt and anxiety that are ever present in developed Western society. Not to be missed.' --Daily Mail
`as a comic novel, The Great Perhaps is a plausibly 21st-century version of Tristram Shandy, leading us to the inexorable conclusion that the human condition remains an absurd, faltering but essential defiance of tragedy.'
--Sunday Herald
`Each character's voice is convincing, and Meno builds a playful but heartfelt portrait of a not-quite-nuclear family wrangling with the eternal questions of love, life and obsessively following clouds that look like gigantic walking men.'
--Dazed & Confused
'The flat, uninfected language, interspersed with sudden absurdist flights of fancy, is reminiscent of of Kurt Vonnegut; the comic-book influence contains traces of Jonathan Lethem; while the forensic examination of familial dysfunction should satisfy Franzen fans.' --Guardian
'The wisest, most humane and transcendent novel on the contemporary family since The Corrections' Irvine Welsh
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- ISBN 10 0330519530
- ISBN 13 9780330519533
- BindingPaperback
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