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Guests | May 6, 2013

Benjamin Percy: IMG The Roof People

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My sister slept with the light on until she was 27. She rightfully blames me. I would leap out of closets with my hands made into claws. I would... Continue »
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How to Paint a Dead Man (P.S.)

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How to Paint a Dead Man (P.S.) Cover

ISBN13: 9780061430459
ISBN10: 0061430455
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From Sarah Hall, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Daughters of the North and The Electric Michelangelo comes the Harper Perennial paperback original novel How to Paint a Dead Man, a daringly imaginative tale in which multiple lives are woven together through the prism of a still life painting. Moving from Italy to England, spanning nearly half a century, and bringing together the lives of four disparate characters, How to Paint a Dead Man is Halls fierce and brilliant study of art and its place in our lives.

Review:

"Stunning visual descriptions link the stories of four artists in crisis in Hall's fourth novel (after Daughters of the North), but marginal, cross-generational relationships are what ground the book. Giorgio is a well-known painter and hermit in Italy in the 1960s, the near-blind Annette his favorite primary school student. Peter is a 50-something landscape artist in England, and Peter's daughter, Susan, a talented photographer and curator. Giorgio has cancer and for his final days tackles one last painting of his constant subject, colored bottles. Soon after his death, Annette tends his grave, innocent and fearful and now completely blind, fearing imaginary things like the Bestia — a demon that is depicted in her church. Thirty years later, Peter, who corresponded with Giorgio, is pinned under a boulder near his cottage, and contemplates the haunting relationship he had with his ex-wife, while in present-day London, Susan searches for feeling (through sex) after the sudden loss of her twin brother. Hall gracefully conveys a sense of the eternal through these imaginative, disconnected creatures who share the same unrelentingly contemplative disposition. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Synopsis:

The lives of four individuals—a dying painter, a blind girl, a landscape artist, and an art curator—intertwine across nearly five decades in this luminous and searching novel of extraordinary power. With How to Paint a Dead Man, Sarah Hall, "one of the most significant and exciting of Britain's young novelists" (The Guardian), delivers "a maddeningly enticing read . . . an amazing feat of literary engineering" (The Independent on Sunday).

Synopsis:

The lives of four individuals—a dying painter, a blind girl, a landscape artist, and an art curator—intertwine across nearly five decades in this luminous and searching novel of extraordinary power. With How to Paint a Dead Man, Sarah Hall, "one of the most significant and exciting of Britain's young novelists" (The Guardian), delivers "a maddeningly enticing read . . . an amazing feat of literary engineering" (The Independent on Sunday).
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About the Author

Sarah Hall is the author of Haweswater, The Electric Michelangelo, and Daughters of the North.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Elizabeth Beck, January 19, 2010 (view all comments by Elizabeth Beck)
"How to Paint a Dead Man" was amazing on so many levels. Sarah Hall skillfully connects disparate characters across continents and times, using her handle on point of view as the breadcrumbs that keep the reader from getting lost. I'm still amazed at how easily she brings you into a scene, as if you are not reading a description but looking around yourself only find you've fallen into present-day London or post World War II Italy. Her tale of loss and death, and the way humans cope with those life moments, was one of the best books of 2009, of the decade and, quite possibly, of my life as a reader.
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Gay Wiseman, November 12, 2009 (view all comments by Gay Wiseman)
This book spoke to me on many levels. It really got under my skin, pulling out thoughts and feelings I didn't know I harbored. Like all great literature, it circles around the deep questions of life and love, showing us different viewpoints. I highly recommend it.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780061430459
Author:
Hall, Sarah
Publisher:
Harper Perennial
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
General
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Brothers - Death
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
2009
Edition Description:
Trade PB
Series:
P.S.
Publication Date:
20090931
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
320
Dimensions:
8.00x5.28x.76 in. .52 lbs.
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Related Subjects


Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z

How to Paint a Dead Man (P.S.) Used Trade Paper
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Product details 320 pages Harper Perennial - English 9780061430459 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Stunning visual descriptions link the stories of four artists in crisis in Hall's fourth novel (after Daughters of the North), but marginal, cross-generational relationships are what ground the book. Giorgio is a well-known painter and hermit in Italy in the 1960s, the near-blind Annette his favorite primary school student. Peter is a 50-something landscape artist in England, and Peter's daughter, Susan, a talented photographer and curator. Giorgio has cancer and for his final days tackles one last painting of his constant subject, colored bottles. Soon after his death, Annette tends his grave, innocent and fearful and now completely blind, fearing imaginary things like the Bestia — a demon that is depicted in her church. Thirty years later, Peter, who corresponded with Giorgio, is pinned under a boulder near his cottage, and contemplates the haunting relationship he had with his ex-wife, while in present-day London, Susan searches for feeling (through sex) after the sudden loss of her twin brother. Hall gracefully conveys a sense of the eternal through these imaginative, disconnected creatures who share the same unrelentingly contemplative disposition. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Synopsis" by , The lives of four individuals—a dying painter, a blind girl, a landscape artist, and an art curator—intertwine across nearly five decades in this luminous and searching novel of extraordinary power. With How to Paint a Dead Man, Sarah Hall, "one of the most significant and exciting of Britain's young novelists" (The Guardian), delivers "a maddeningly enticing read . . . an amazing feat of literary engineering" (The Independent on Sunday).
"Synopsis" by , The lives of four individuals—a dying painter, a blind girl, a landscape artist, and an art curator—intertwine across nearly five decades in this luminous and searching novel of extraordinary power. With How to Paint a Dead Man, Sarah Hall, "one of the most significant and exciting of Britain's young novelists" (The Guardian), delivers "a maddeningly enticing read . . . an amazing feat of literary engineering" (The Independent on Sunday).
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