The Reason You're Alive
Autor Matthew Quicken Limba Engleză Hardback – 4 iul 2017
Adresat cititorilor care apreciază explorările psihologice ale condiției umane și pasionaților de literatură contemporană cu tematică istorică, The Reason You're Alive propune o incursiune onestă în mintea unui om aflat la amurgul vieții. Notăm cu interes modul în care Matthew Quick construiește figura lui David Granger, un veteran de 68 de ani a cărui personalitate dificilă și argumentativă ascunde o vulnerabilitate profundă, exacerbată de doliu și de sentimentul de inadecvare în fața prezentului. Subliniem faptul că, spre deosebire de alte romane de război, aici accentul nu cade pe luptele din tranșee, ci pe bătălia interioară pentru iertare și reconciliere. Putem afirma că structura narativă este una compactă și dinamică, favorizând un ritm alert prin care cititorul descoperă treptat secretul ce îl leagă pe David de Clayton Fire Bear, un camarad din trecut. Perspectiva este una subiectivă, oferind o voce autentică, uneori incomodă, care forțează depășirea prejudecăților. Pe aceeași linie cu Looking for the Summer de Robert W. Norris, acest volum explorează trauma post-război, dar cu un accent deosebit pe speranță și pe relațiile intergeneraționale, în special prin legătura duioasă dintre David și nepoata sa, Ella. În timp ce alte titluri precum F.N.G. se concentrează pe experiența imediată a frontului, Matthew Quick alege să examineze ecoul pe termen lung al conflictului asupra conștiinței umane, transformând o poveste despre remușcare într-o pledoarie pentru bunătate.
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Specificații
ISBN-10: 0062424300
Pagini: 240
Dimensiuni: 149 x 217 x 27 mm
Greutate: 0.36 kg
Editura: Harpercollins
De ce să citești această carte
Pentru cine caută o lectură care să provoace empatia față de caracterele dificile, acest roman este o alegere excelentă. Cititorul câștigă o perspectivă nuanțată asupra modului în care traumele vechi pot fi vindecate prin gesturi de onestitate. Este o recomandare solidă pentru cei care vor să înțeleagă complexitatea veteranilor și puterea de transformare a legăturilor de familie, totul într-un stil narativ direct și plin de substanță.
Despre autor
Matthew Quick este un autor american recunoscut pentru capacitatea sa de a portretiza personaje complexe, adesea aflate în momente de criză existențială. Stilul său se distinge prin îmbinarea umorului fin cu teme profunde precum sănătatea mintală, dinamica familială și procesul de recuperare emoțională. În The Reason You're Alive, autorul își folosește talentul pentru a da voce unui protagonist marginalizat de propria sa asprime, demonstrând încă o dată de ce este considerat un observator atent al nuanțelor psihologice care definesc reziliența umană.
Descriere scurtă
After sixty-eight-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name no one in his civilian life has ever heard—that of a Native American soldier whom he was once ordered to discipline. David decides to return something precious he long ago stole from the man he now calls Clayton Fire Bear. It may be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. It may also help him to finally recover from his wife’s untimely demise.
As David confronts his past to salvage his present, a poignant portrait emerges: that of an opinionated and good-hearted American patriot fighting like hell to stay true to his red, white, and blue heart, even as the country he loves rapidly changes in ways he doesn’t always like or understand. Hanging in the balance are Granger’s distant art-dealing son, Hank; his adoring seven-year-old granddaughter, Ella; and his best friend, Sue, a Vietnamese American who respects David’s fearless sincerity.
Through the controversial, wrenching, and wildly honest David Granger, Matthew Quick offers a no-nonsense but ultimately hopeful view of America’s polarized psyche. By turns irascible and hilarious, insightful and inconvenient, David is a complex, wounded, honorable, and loving man. The Reason You’re Alive examines how the secrets and debts we carry from our past define us; it also challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in us all.
Recenzii
“The role of David Granger may someday be played by an Oscar-hungry actor. But that shouldn’t distract from the vivid, high-definition protagonist that already glows from the page.... That candor and honesty gives this first-person narrative its potency. It also supplies the humor.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“The Reason You’re Alive is fundamentally about the power to forgive both yourself and others.... Quick forces both readers and characters to reexamine their first impressions through his narrator.... In classic Quick fashion, the novel is full of intriguing supporting characters.” — AV Club
“Dark, funny, and surprisingly tender.” — Publishers Weekly
“A scorching family drama. The Reason You’re Alive is narrated with ire and eloquence by David Granger... It’s as if Holden Caulfield grew up to be a reflective, even soulful, Archie Bunker.... A touching, old-fashioned drama about the ties that sometimes choke, but always bind.” — BookPage
“Surprising.... At the core of the novel is the voice of David Granger, a combination of Archie Bunker and Marlow of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.... A valuable addition to fiction about the tangled aftereffects of Vietnam on soldiers in the field.” — Kirkus
“A book of unexpected turns, a fun and funny narrative intermixed with many dark plot lines, The Reason You’re Alive is a poignant work and a must-read this summer.” — New York Journal of Books
“This new novel from the author of Silver Linings Playbook spotlights an unlikely hero, and a father-son relationship, with wry warmth and humor.” — National Book Review
“Poignant and uproarious…. A novel that thrums with energy…. A vibrant and compassionate tale of a complex man finding his way in a divided America.” — Minneapolis StarTribune
“Touching and often laugh-out-loud funny.” — Asheville Citizen-Times
“An extremely powerful book.” — The Missourian
“Quick has an amazing ability to build characters who are big-hearted and hopeful even in the face of great tragedy, heartbreak, and trauma. In this case, once you get beneath the camo and insults, you begin to really see Granger.” — Writer’s Bone
“David’s voice is completely distinctive and compelling — one that captures your attention from the first paragraph. David’s story will leave readers laughing one minute and crying the next. Another hit from Quick!” — RT Book Reviews
“Inspiring... Matthew Quick has a way with wounded characters.” — Boston Globe, on Love May Fail
“A gratifying romp….Fans of The Silver Linings Playbook know Quick’s penchant for emotionally troubled, big-hearted characters, and Good Luck will satisfy those readers and new ones alike.” — People, Three Stars, on Good Luck of Right Now
“It’s impossible not to love each of these deeply flawed characters….As funny as it is touching, Quick’s latest effort is on par with Silver Linings.” — USA Today, Four Stars, on Good Luck of Right Now
Notă biografică
Descriere
When sixty-eight-year-old Vietnam War veteran David Granger wakes up from emergency surgery, he finds himself repeating a name: Clayton Fire Bear, a soldier from whom he stole something long ago. And now, David knows he must make amends. It might be the only way to find happiness in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect, and it might also help him recover from the loss of the wife he grieves for every day.
Motivated by his adoring young granddaughter, Ella, David sets out to confront his past in order to salvage his present. Grumpy and argumentative he may be, but ultimately The Reason You're Alive challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in others.