In college, Nathaniel meets someone who knows too much about him. Responsible for his breakdown, this odd character appears 30 years later to suggest <#150> with staggering consequences <#150> that Nathaniel's identity may not be his own. "Mays brings a
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"I'm at a loss on how to rate this one. Enjoyed it when I was reading it, had a suspicion as to where it was heading that proved to be incorrect, and was then thoroughly confused by the ending. After sleeping on it, I still can't decide if it was brilliant or a cop out. In the end I suppose the fact that I'm still thinking about it and trying to figure it out bumps it from 3 star territory into 4, though the fact that I can't decide prevents it moving higher or lower."
— Jacob (4 out of 5 stars)
“Gloriously done…It’s like watching fire slowly travel up a curtain, waiting for the moment the whole cloth will be engulfed.”
— New York Times“Shrewd and mischievous.”
— Boston Globe“With a prose style lyrical, accessible and warmly humorous, Charles Baxter has been quietly building a reputation as one of America’s favorite literary authors…His newest novel teems with the same good-natured empathy and wry humor that imbues his earlier works…It surely will delight.”
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch“This is a dandy psychological thriller in which proliferating mirrors will make your head spin. Baxter has given us the writers version of that famous M. C. Escher print in which one hand is drawing the other.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune" The gorgeousness of Baxter's prose does not make up for the half-bakd premise of this novel. Perhaps if I'd stopped reading after Part One..... "
— Gail, 2/20/2014" Very cerebral and existential, well-written, but hard to care about the characters. "
— Leslie, 2/8/2014" It is an adult book. The story is not amazing but the writing is amazing. Page after page of prose. Good times! "
— Earl, 2/8/2014" Truly strange. I'm in love with the writing of Charles Baxter... this wasn't one of my favorites, though. "
— Josh, 2/6/2014" Good writer with a potentially interesting story, but it never really pulled me in. "
— Wesley, 2/5/2014" Charlie is a friend and a great writer. I think this is one of his best novels. "
— Sea, 1/15/2014" Although it's easy to admire the writer's literary craft through the pages, ultimately the plot lagged too much for my taste, and the ending was a dud. "
— Sandy, 1/8/2014" I have mixed feelings about the story line and the characters. But the quality of writing was excellent. "
— Lisa, 12/15/2013" A trifle dark "
— Richard, 12/8/2013" Uh...what the hell did I just read? "
— Amie, 11/9/2013" I have read several of Chas. Baxter's novels and liked them, but I was very disappointed here. Even the conclusion didn't redeem it. "
— Karen, 11/1/2013" Great writer - underrated and underknown "
— Jon, 8/31/2013" My first B book in the audio section. I did not like it and did not get it. The characters are believeable, but what they are doing is not interesting. There is some stuff at the beginning that never did come together. "
— Suzanne, 12/31/2012" This book was like a David Lynch movie. "
— Bethspin, 6/21/2012" Kinda trippy and really strange, not to mention it's set in Buffalo, N.Y. "
— Anne, 12/23/2011" i'm not 100% sure i followed, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless. "
— Heidi, 11/22/2011" This book was hard to get into... no where near as good as the Feast of Love. I was disappointed. "
— Liz, 7/6/2011" This is a tough call. The prose and writing passages make me want to give it four stars, but the plot and character development leave me wanting to leave only two. I'll settle for three. "
— Whitney, 5/28/2011" couldn't get into this one... lots of 1970s humanities grad students being narcissistic. "
— Nick, 4/11/2011" My notes on this book ready only "huh?" So clearly I couldn't follow what was going on. "
— Kathy, 4/11/2011" This was good, but I am not sure I understood all of it. The author is, however, a good story teller. "
— Linda, 3/26/2011" Hard to follow at times for me. "
— Trinity, 3/4/2011" Damn how this book snuck up on me...and sent me reeling back through the pages (literally and figuratively). "
— Victoria, 3/1/2011" Not what I expected it to be, but still somewhat interesting. More cerebral than thrilling, like I hoped for. "
— Kristie, 2/6/2011" the premise is difficult enough to write a good book, but add in flat characters and a unsatisfying twist ending and this is just not worth it. read feast of love instead.. "
— Zovig, 1/22/2011" Did not finish this book as I could not get into it and fell asleep every time I picked it up. Love Baxter and his other writings so will try again at a later date when maybe I can pay attention to it more. "
— Ried, 1/3/2011" I was almost to the end of the first of five discs and I realized that I had no idea what this story was about really, so I decided to give up on it. "
— Leslie, 12/4/2010" I have read several of Chas. Baxter's novels and liked them, but I was very disappointed here. Even the conclusion didn't redeem it. "
— Karen, 11/4/2010" I didn't like any of the characters and I was generally unimpressed with the whole novel, but the ending was AWESOME! It's enough to make me not regret reading the whole thing, but not enough to make me like the book "
— Sasha, 10/7/2010Charles Baxter is the author of several works of fiction, including Saul and Patsy; The Feast of Love, a National Book Award nominee; Through the Safety Net; and Believers. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jefferson Mays, an Earphones Awards-winning narrator, is also an award-winning theater and film actor. In 2004 he won a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award, an Obie Award, and a Theatre World Award for his solo Broadway performance in I Am My Own Wife, a Pulitzer Prize–winning play by Doug Wright. He holds a BA from Yale College and an MFA from University of California–San Diego.