Jess Walter
Jess Walter's sixth novel "Beautiful Ruins" is set for release in spring of 2012. He is also the author of "The Financial Lives of the Poets" 2009, "The Zero" a 2006 National Book Award finalist and "Citizen Vince" winner of the 2005 Edgar Award Allan Poe for best novel.
"A small masterpiece." -- Time
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Beautiful Ruins -- June 12
"A brilliant, madcap meditation on fate ... Walter’s prose is a joy—funny, brash, witty and rich with ironic twists. He’s taken all of the tricks of the postmodern novel and scoured out the cynicism, making for a novel that's life-affirming but never saccharine." KIRKUS (starred review)
"... so appealing we’d be idiots not to buy it ... A novel shot in sparkly Technicolor." BOOKLIST (starred review) "Walter’s newest book will have readers ... marveling at his imagination and spot-on characters ... Not to be missed." LIBRARY JOURNAL (starred review) "“Well-constructed…quirky and entertaining tale of greed, treachery, and love.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Why mince words? Beautiful Ruins is an absolute masterpiece.” RICHARD RUSSO, Empire Falls “This is a blockbuster, with romance, majesty, comedy, smarts, and a cast of thousands.” DANIEL HANDLER, Why We Broke Up "... nothing less than brilliant, a tour de force that crosses decades, continents, and genres, to powerful and often hilarious effect." BEN FOUNTAIN, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk "... characters so exhilaratingly human that you want to break out into cheers and sobs ... to be untouched by Beautiful Ruins might well be like having no inner life at all." REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God UPCOMING EVENTSMAY 22 -- SPOKANE, Aunties, Q-A with friend and author Jim Lynch
BEAUTIFUL RUINS BOOK TOUR JUNE 12 -- SPOKANE -- Aunties Bookstore, 7 p.m. JUNE 18 -- BROOKLYN -- Greenlight Books, 7:30 p.m. JUNE 19 -- NEW YORK -- Center For Fiction in coversation with Cal Morgan, 7 p.m. JUNE 20 -- NEW YORK -- McNally Jackson Books, 7 p.m. JUNE 21 -- BROOKLINE, MA -- Brookline Booksmith, 7 p.m. JUNE 22 -- SOUTH HADLEY, MA -- Odyssey Bookshop, 7 p.m. JUNE 25 -- CORTE MADERA, CA -- Book Passage, 7 p.m. JUNE 26 -- ORINDA, CA -- Orinda Books, 2 p.m. JUNE 26 -- DANVILLE, CA -- Rakestraw Books, 7 p.m. JUNE 27 -- PORTLAND, OR -- Powell's Books, 7:30 p.m. JUNE 28 -- OLYMPIA, WA -- Fireside Books JUNE 29 -- SEATTLE, WA -- Seattle Mystery Bookshop, noon JUNE 29 -- SEATTLE, WA -- Elliot Bay Book Company, 7 p.m. JULY 12 -- SPOKANE, WA -- Barnes and Noble, 7 p.m. JULY 18 -- LOS ANGELES, CA -- Book Soup AUGUST 12 -- EVERETT, WA -- Everett Library, 2 p.m. SEPTEMBER 19 -- Purdue University SEPTEMBER 20 -- Wabash College SEPTEMBER 28 -- SPOKANE -- Bedtime Stories fundraiser for Humanities Washington OCTOBER 4-5 -- Missoula, Montana Book Festival OCTOBER 11-12 -- Nashville, Tennessee, Southern Festival of Books OCTOBER 12-13 -- Portland, Wordstock OCTOBER: COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado College, WINNIPEG, Thin Air Festival, TORONTO PRAISE FOR 'THE FINANCIAL LIVES OF THE POETS' (2009)BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR: Time, NPR's Fresh Air, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Arizona Republic, The Oregonian, Kansas City Star, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Salon.com, The Believer Readers' Poll and New West.
"A small masterpiece" -- Time
"Lifts off like a rocket" -- Boston Globe "Dangerously astute" -- New York Times "A delight" -- Entertainment Weekly "Deliciously antic" -- Washington Post "A superb farce" -- NPR's FreshAir "A joy to read" -- Nick Hornby, Parade "Witheringly dead-on" -- L.A. Times "A brilliant writer" -- Dallas Morning News "Gasp-out loud funny" -- New York Daily News "A terrific book" -- Arizona Republic "The ultimate something-for-everyone-don't-skip-must-read" -- Sara Nelson, The Daily Beast UK Reviews:
--‘Extremely funny … Walter’s sentences are beautifully weighted and his comic touch is excellent.’ Simon Baker, Literary Review -- ‘The best post-recession novel … Brilliant - and brilliantly funny,’ Esquire -- 'A rollicking comedy ... ecstatically funny and unusually big-hearted.' Financial Times -- ‘Excellent and gratifyingly funny.’ The Independent -- ‘One of the funniest books I’ve read in ages,' Irish Times -- ‘Hilarious ... beautifully laid-back.' Metro UK -- ‘Frequently funny and ... rather moving.’ The Sunday Times PRAISE FOR THE ZERO
"'The Zero' could end up as the 'Catch 22' of 9/11 ... (with) its brilliant ironies, its deadpan truths, its insider smarts and its everyguy hero ... (Walter) elevates 'The Zero' above mere satire to Kafkaesque parable." -- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL "Walter is a gifted writer with unusual breadth. And among the already proliferating and formulaic body of film and fiction grappling with Sept. 11, 'The Zero' is a standout." -- THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE "Stunning and provocative ... exquisitely written ... 'The Zero' is by turns heartbreaking and deadpan funny." -- THE SEATTLE TIMES "… a noir page-turner with powerful social commentary ... full of dead-on insights into our culture ... nails our often surreal post-9/11 world." -- WASHINGTON POST BOOKWORLD "Mr. Walter (is) a ridiculously talented writer ... The best of 'The Zero' breathes life into the author’s idea of post-9/11 life as a fever dream for its characters." NEW YORK TIMES "Walter has created a satire/tragedy that Franz Kafka and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. might appreciate … a dark allegory about the attack, the aftermath, and what has happened to America." USA TODAY PRAISE FOR CITIZEN VINCE "Utterly inventive ... excruciatingly breathless ... you just have to read it." WASHINGTON POST "Wonderfully written ... hard to forget." LOS ANGELES TIMES "Citizen Vince is fast, tough, thoughtful and funny. I loved this novel." NICK HORNBY |
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