Carry Me Down
Oct 2014 · Grove Atlantic
Ebook
337
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About this ebook
This Man Booker Prize finalist is “a fast-paced psychological drama . . . of the pain of lost innocence and the price of pursuing the truth” (People).
John Egan is a misfit—“a twelve year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant”—who diligently keeps a “log of lies.” John’s been able to detect lies for as long as he can remember, it’s a source of power but also great consternation for a boy so young. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him.
This is one year in a boy’s life. On the cusp of adolescence—from his changing voice and body, through to his parents’ difficult travails and the near collapse of his sanity—John is like a tuning fork sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for him and his family.
Carry Me Down is “a spare, piercing testimony to the bewilderment and resiliency of youth” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
“Writing of the highest order.”—J.M. Coetzee
“Surreal, heartbreaking . . . John Egan [is] a character the reader is privileged to meet. Hyland’s skill is commendable. Carry Me Down, in all its grossness and granular beauty, is a remarkable book.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“In taut, simple prose, Hyland meticulously captures the specific pains of growing up poor and lonely in Ireland and deftly anatomizes her judgmental protagonist’s odd mixture of . . . little boy and grown lad.”—Entertainment Weekly
John Egan is a misfit—“a twelve year old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant”—who diligently keeps a “log of lies.” John’s been able to detect lies for as long as he can remember, it’s a source of power but also great consternation for a boy so young. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him.
This is one year in a boy’s life. On the cusp of adolescence—from his changing voice and body, through to his parents’ difficult travails and the near collapse of his sanity—John is like a tuning fork sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for him and his family.
Carry Me Down is “a spare, piercing testimony to the bewilderment and resiliency of youth” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
“Writing of the highest order.”—J.M. Coetzee
“Surreal, heartbreaking . . . John Egan [is] a character the reader is privileged to meet. Hyland’s skill is commendable. Carry Me Down, in all its grossness and granular beauty, is a remarkable book.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“In taut, simple prose, Hyland meticulously captures the specific pains of growing up poor and lonely in Ireland and deftly anatomizes her judgmental protagonist’s odd mixture of . . . little boy and grown lad.”—Entertainment Weekly
About the author
M. J. HYLAND was born in London in 1968 to Irish parents and spent her early childhood in Dublin. She studied law and English at the University of Melbourne and worked for several years as a lawyer. Her first novel, How the Light Gets In, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Eurasia Region) and for The Age Book of the Year in Australia and, in 2004, she was named Young Australian Writer of the Year.How the Light Gets In also took third place in the 2004 Barnes & Noble Discover Award for fiction. M. J. Hyland lives in London, England.
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