An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell - Hardcover

Deborah Levy writes fiction, plays and poetry. Her work has been staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her most recent novel, Swimming Home (2011, And Other Stories) was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize, 2012 Specsavers National Book Awards (UK Author of the Year) and 2013 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize, while her most recent collection of short stories, Black Vodka: ten stories, was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and its title story Black Vodka’ shortlisted for the 2012 BBC International Short Story Award. An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell was first published in 1990 in the UK and appears now in a new edition, its first US edition.

"Lively, sharp, remarkably evocative with very few words, Levy is the best kind of 'modern' writer." Booklist

Levy’s sense of dramatic form ... is unerring” The New Yorker

Levy winds her characters up and watches them go, and they do as most humans do, which is to mess up in the face of desire. ... utterly beautiful and lyrical throughout." Booklist

She is one of the few contemporary British writers comfortable on a world stage.” New Statesman

Accomplished and uncanny. The strange, unpredictable journey is worth it.” Alex Clark, Guardian

A major contemporary writer who never pulls her punches.” Julia Pascal, Independent

Levy’s strength is her originality of thought and expression.’ Jeanette Winterson

She writes like a hyper-kinetic angel.’ Sunday Times

Angry and uninhibited, Levy's prose throbs its way into the imagination.’ Observer

"Levy makes something singular of this typical love-stuff....like an indelible pop song, Levy's text chooses all the right, simple words with an uncanny melody .Discourse wastes no time doing anything but shaking you up.” Bookslut

"I loved this effervescent dialogue between she and he, angel and accountant, wild desire and the (ever more desirable) quotidian. It’s Deborah Levy at her wise, witty and playful best. Read it and be seduced away from (or back into) the suburbs of hell." Lisa Appignanesi, author of All About Love

"Levy just gets it entirely the whole business of drab and yet compelling routine, and the fear of the inestimable, the longing nonetheless, the surrender each day to the ordinary, dispersing the dream, only to dream it again. An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell encapsulates all of this, redeems the crumpled weary mortal, sends him into a wild realm of uncertainty, satirises him, lavishes him with affection. A crazily beautiful, astonishing, original work of art." Joanna Kavenna, author of Come to the Edge

"Whether writing with barely suppressed rage or achieving a brisk comic pace, the writing of Deborah Levy rarely lets the reader grow complacent....Levy deals with grand themes in unexpected ways, and her latest book (in a manner of speaking) addresses this head-on....Levy’s characters find their comfort in the small moments though for a man and an angel, what counts as a small moment differs wildly. This poem is able to find moments of light comedy and ponder everyday moments of bliss and satisfaction; that it’s able to balance the two so nimbly is no small achievement. And ultimately, the tension between these two modes gives the work as a whole an abundant energy, echoing and reinforcing its central conflict, and balancing the sacred and the mundane." The Jewish Daily Forward

"Choppy and sparky, this sharply drawn dialogue plays out like an otherworldly soap opera. Levy’s having fun and so will the reader." We Love This Book

"Landing back in the UK, this autumn I’m looking forward to Deborah Levy’s An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell." Joanna Walsh, 3am Magazine

"It will delight readers." Library Journal

Praise for Swimming Home

"Readers will have to resist the temptation to hurry up in order to find out what happens . . . Our reward is the enjoyable, if unsettling, experience of being pitched into the deep waters of Levy's wry, accomplished novel." Francine Prose, The New York Times Book Review

"Elegant . . . subtle . . . uncanny. . . The seductive pleasure of Levy's prose stems from its layered brilliance." Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"Here is an excellent story, told with the subtlety and menacing tension of a veteran playwright." Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

"Exquisite . . . Levy's sense of dramatic form, as she hastens us toward the grim finale, is unerring, and her precise, dispassionate prose effortlessly
summons people and landscapes." The New Yorker

"Wholly new, fresh and yes, profound . . . [Swimming Home] floats like a wasp, and stings like one too." Tucker Shaw, The Denver Post

"Ms. Levy is a stealthy storyteller, lulling us while busy scattering clues." The New York Times

"Levy winds her characters up and watches them go, and they do as most humans do, which is to mess up in the face of desire. Her novel is utterly beautiful and lyrical throughout, even at the most tragic turns....A shortlisted nominee for the Man Booker Prize, deserving of the widest readership.” Booklist (starred review)

"Short, simple and haunting." Editor's Picks: Best Books 2012, Huffington Post

"This perfectly written, expertly crafted short book...[is] so well done and
so clever." Chicago Tribune, Printers Row