Fiona Maazel is the author of Last Last Chance. She is a winner of the Bard Prize for Fiction and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She teaches at Brooklyn College, Columbia, New York University, and Princeton. She lives in Brooklyn.
"[A] sprawling, intimate novel, which is a perfectly poised screen-capture of hyper-modernity." --The Believer Book Award, Editors' Shortlist "Hilarious and heartbreaking." --NPR "Brilliantly imagined." --Vanity Fair "Maazel's insights are as sound as her imagination is wild." --Oprah.com, Book of the Week "The talented Maazel has plenty of imagination." --USA Today "[A] whip-smart comic novel." --Reader's Digest "Uniformly entertaining . . . It's thrilling to imagine what Fiona Maazel might do next." --The Boston Globe "Maazel possesses a formidable imagination and considerable linguistic virtuosity." --The Chicago Tribune "[A] fun farce." --Cosmopolitan "Woke Up Lonely is another wunderkammer, a deeply felt and wildly original novel that repays the attention it demands, and once read won't soon be forgotten." --Bookforum "One of the best pieces of fiction and social satire of the year." --The Millions "Maazel takes a cue from Kurt Vonnegut by creating a novel that blends the plot of a dramatic thriller with wacky humor and bits of science fiction." --BUST
Thurlow Dan is the founder of Helix, a prominent cult that promises a cure for loneliness. But Dan has a problem: he is lonely-for his covert CIA agent ex-wife, Esme, who has spent much of her life spying on Dan in an effort to shield him from the police. But when one of Esme's surveillance missions goes awry, Dan starts taking hostages. Maazel's novel is enhanced by narrator Bernadette Dunne's winning performance in this audio edition. With an older voice and slight rasp, Dunne offers up clear, clean narration. Equally important, her reading is well paced and demonstrates great timing. A Graywolf hardcover. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Late in the novel, a main character states, "I could not fathom where to go." This statement neatly describes a messy novel. It is not clear whether the author intended for this work to be a humorous approach to politics and self-awareness, a view of cult leadership and life, an approach to transmogrifying relationships, or a travelog on North Korea. The characters' backstories are numbingly long and overly detailed, the plot veers like a driverless car, and the overall effect is a hot mess. The excellent narration by Bernadette Dunne is wasted on this confused literary effort. Verdict Not recommended. ["Maazel's wildly imaginative style isn't for everyone, and her humor may be lost on many readers. But this ambitious, wide-ranging novel should appeal to those who enjoy complex, edgy, and ironic literary fiction," read the review of the Graywolf hc, LJ 5/1/13.-Ed.]-J. Sara Paulk, Wythe-Grayson Regional Lib., Independence, VA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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