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Jul
26
Remember that time I called a book a mindf@#k?
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
Well, I lied.
Or, rather, I didn’t know what I was saying because I hadn’t met Mr. Peanut yet.
Seriously.
Every time I think I’ve made sense of this book, Adam Ross throws me another curveball, and I’m all WHAT? I thought it was THAT guy’s wife in the suitcase!
And that’s why there’s not more to this blog post.
Intrigued? Here’s the jacket copy from Knopf:
David Pepin has been in love with his wife, Alice, since the moment they met in a university seminar on Alfred Hitchcock. After thirteen years of marriage, he still can’t imagine a remotely happy life without her—yet he obsessively contemplates her demise. Soon she is dead, and David is both deeply distraught and the prime suspect.
The detectives investigating Alice’s suspicious death have plenty of personal experience with conjugal enigmas: Ward Hastroll is happily married until his wife inexplicably becomes voluntarily and militantly bedridden; and Sam Sheppard is especially sensitive to the intricacies of marital guilt and innocence, having decades before been convicted and then exonerated of the brutal murder of his wife.
Still, these men are in the business of figuring things out, even as Pepin’s role in Alice’s death grows ever more confounding when they link him to a highly unusual hit man called Mobius. Like the Escher drawings that inspire the computer games David designs for a living, these complex, interlocking dramas are structurally and emotionally intense, subtle, and intriguing; they brilliantly explore the warring impulses of affection and hatred, and pose a host of arresting questions. Is it possible to know anyone fully, completely? Are murder and marriage two sides of the same coin, each endlessly recycling into the other? And what, in the end, is the truth about love?
The book is out now, so if you want to go pick up a copy so we can make sense of it together, that would be great.
More soon….assuming I can retrieve my brain from its present state of addlepation.
Also: The version I’m reading is a bound manuscript that I’ve learned is very different from the final copy….so, I’ll be reading the finished version soon and then hosting Adam Ross for a Q & A you won’t find anywhere else on the interweb. Keep an eye out!
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Wait ’til you get to the end.
JChristie´s last [type] ..My Gateway Beer-perience
I’d be willing to pick this up if we really could make sense of it together, but I really hate being confused about a book on my lonesome. You have me rather intrigued, so I’ll be waiting in anticipation for your final thoughts on the worthwhile-ness on this mindf*@k!
NovelWhore´s last [type] ..Wordless Wednesday 1
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rebecca Schinsky, Rebecca Schinsky. Rebecca Schinsky said: Remember that time I called a book a mindf@#k? http://bit.ly/c6CdZh [...]
Originally I read “conjugal enema” instead of “conjugal enigma” – my mind is always doing that to me! I am one sick and twisted puppy. Well, I’m in for a mindf&*k. I like those kinds of books. You have tempted me to stray from my stack.
Sandy´s last [type] ..Sunday Salon- Walking Turkey
Can’t wait for your interview / review! Somewhere, I’d read that Mr. Ross’s Mr. Peanut resembled the work of the late, great David Foster Wallace. That put the novel right at the top of my list – but then Entertainment Weekly kind of panned it.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20394474,00.html
So, you’re going to be the tiebreaker!
Greg Zimmerman´s last [type] ..Julys Compendium of Literary Links
Sounds a bit like Atmospheric Disturbances. Also a mindfuck. Also about a husband who loses his wife in a twisted manner. And also freakin’ amazing!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/books/review/Schillinger-t.html
I’m very intrigued!
Bronwyn´s last [type] ..Thoughts on Eclipse and the Twilight Series Warning- Team Jacob
Oh yeah, I’ve had my eye on this one since the NYT Book Review review. Luscious-lookin’! In a weird, scary way.
Andi´s last [type] ..More SubHerban Gardening
I love books that totally throw you for a loop. Just when you think you have everything figured out, you realize how wrong you were. I’m intrigued. I’ll look forward to hearing more about this book.
are you going to beat the answers you want from him using his manuscript?
or are you going to play nice?
i like all words that appear nonsensical at fist knopf, fjord, fnord, freckle.
“girl” if you write it ten-fifteen times in a row…
erisian23´s last [type] ..Q&A w-Robin Spano- A fresh face for detective-crime novels
Okay. I don’t need anymore. It’s on the official TBR list on goodreads. I can’t wait to read your review.
Jessica´s last [type] ..10 Literary Concepts Every Reader Should Know
[...] week on the blog, I discussed the mindfuckery that is Mr. Peanut…and then I figured out (thank you, Twitter!) that much of my confusion came from the fact [...]
I am patiently waiting my turn at the library for this one. I wonder how many galleys significantly differ from the final book??
diane´s last [type] ..Stuff and July Reading Wrap Up
I think most galleys only differ in typos, etc. But this is an actual manuscript (that was sent to bookstores several months before galleys were), and it is WAY different.
It is scarcely playing fair to send a manuscript to bookstores then recall it and reissue a very different manuscript or book. That would drive me mad!
Stephanie Suesan Smith´s last [type] ..The Texan’s Irish Bride Book Trailer
[...] big thanks to Rebecca for making me want to read this [...]
[...] of Books | The Book Lady’s Blog | my books, my [...]