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Blind Speed: A Novel
Current price:
$19.95
Publication Date: October 31st, 2012
Publisher:
TriQuarterly
ISBN:
9780810129252
Pages:
304
Description
Finalist for the Paterson Fiction Prize 2009
Not since Don DeLillo and George Saunders has a writer caught the humor and irreverent seriousness of our time like Barkan has through his protagonist Paul Berger, a flawed hero whose so-called fate drives him toward enlightenment just as surely as it propels him to destruction. Berger is stunned when he receives an ominous palm reading from a savvy guru at a health retreat in Iowa, of all places. And now it seems the prophecy is coming true. His fiancée, who is about to leave him, is shot at a historic reenactment of the Revolutionary War in Concord. One of his brothers, an astronaut, dies on 9/11 in the Pentagon. And his more famous brother, a lawyer and politician, kidnaps him in a media campaign to win an election. But is Paul’s life really controlled by fate? Or is the prophecy a lie he has latched onto ever since his band went under, leaving him almost famous yet unknown—a teacher at a community college, struggling to keep his job?
Blind Speed is a wildly entertaining exploration of intersecting lives in which what happens is never solely by chance or choice. Barkan has built a uniquely American satirical novel, a thoroughly twisted journey of discovery that pops and fires from its first shot in Concord to its last rifle blast, which echoes across the heartland. With global warming, 9/11, government and corporate deceit, and ecoterrorism, the novel dives into epic ideas, capturing America in all its dangerous myths.
Praise for Blind Speed: A Novel
"Blind Speed is a rip-roaring read that will propel you to the next page until you laugh your way across the finish line. Rarely does a novel manage to capture so many facets of the culture at large—Cool prose and piercing insights from a hot new talent." —Martin J. Sherwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Prometheus
"Part farce, part political satire, part metafiction, Blind Speed is a rich fictional stew. Josh Barkan has written an energetic modern-day picaresque." —Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher
"Blind Speed is a crazy-assed adventure of a novel, one that hilariously explores the serious issues of this era and every other: faith, love, ambition and its discontents, the possibility of spiritual regeneration, not to mention sibling rivalry and where to get a drink late at night in Boston. Josh Barkan has written a book that is whip-smart, but whose central allure resides in its oversized heart." —Steve Almond, author of (Not that You Asked) and Candyfreak
