Jericho
     
 
A new novel from the author of The Book of Assassins, published in the U.S., U.K. and Japan, among other territories, this poetic and picaresque tale of a city’s bleak underbelly stakes a new claim on the fictional terrain of Don DeLillo and Chuck Palahniuk. Bishop isn’t a man most women would find attractive: a middle-aged marijuana dealer who owes his ponytail to hair transplants, and his twisted knowledge of books to the reading he’s done in rehab. But for one brief moment he catches the eye of Beth, an innocent from rural Alberta -- who, at that same instant, excites the self-destructive lust of Theresa, a social worker and therapist wannabe. These strange comings-together in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside propel the three characters on a wild race through British Columbia’s mountainous interior, headed toward Bishop’s self-invented city on a hill. It turns out they are also on a journey through concepts of family, urban dislocation, gender identity and the disconnections of language itself. Vividly conjured out of the hustle and crime of Canada’s poorest neighbourhood, this poetic and picaresque novel stakes a new claim on the fictional territory of Don DeLillo and Chuck Palahniuk.  “Masterful… There’s virtually not a step out of place in his prose. Each distinct voice is beautifully honed… Fetherling really shines.”—Michel Basiliéres, The Globe and Mail “Heartfelt…soulful…the writing carries a real sting.”—Toronto Star “Jericho is a funny quirky and acutely observed road trip along the rough edge of our culture. It’s a novel that retells some of the myths — urban and otherwise — that define us.”—Nancy Richler “There is something brave about careening towards the darkness, whether it’s done via sexuality, outlaw behaviour or writing, and Fetherling’s ability to dispense with his critical mindset in favour of an exploratory one will be surprising to anyone who has perceived him as primarily a brainy person, abstracted on high. Jericho is risky and alive, and memorable in the long run for its presentation of a remarkable archetype.”—Alan Twigg, B.C BookWorld “Voice is Fetherling’s great achievement here: the book is divided into sections narrated by each of the three, and the passages are so distinctive, so sure…”—The Georgia Straight “His genius is that he manages to give them each such unique language and thought processes that you can pick up the book, flip it open to a given page and instantly know who is in control of the story at that point….It’s worth reading and rereading.”—Edmonton Journal “All three principal characters are interesting and complex. Bishop, in particular, is a unique and memorable creation: a combination of low-life drug dealer, prankster storyteller and visionary prophet of the wilderness.” “Fetherling is a master of the perceptive comment and the dry remark, combining the keen observation of a social historian with a poet’s precision and joy in the play of words.”—Telegraph-Journal (New Brunswick) “Jericho may be Canada’s first truly 21st-century novel, in terms of the perspective it provides on where we’ve come from and the directions we seem to be headed in….As a work of urban fiction — a slim category in Canadian writing — it stands among the very best.”
|
||||
  Copyright © The Cooke Agency. Website designed by Launchbox Inc. |
||||
|