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Generation Loss

by Elizabeth Hand

Generation Loss Cover

ISBN13: 9780156031349
ISBN10: 0156031345
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Cass Neary made her name in the 1970s as a photographer embedded in the burgeoning punk movement in New York City. Her pictures of the musicians and hangers on, the infamous, the damned, and the dead, got her into art galleries and a book deal. But thirty years later she is adrift, on her way down, and almost out. Then an old acquaintance sends her on a mercy gig to interview a famously reclusive photographer who lives on an island in Maine. When she arrives Downeast, Cass stumbles across a decades-old mystery that is still claiming victims, and into one final shot at redemption.

Review:

"Hand (Mortal Love) explores the narrow boundary between artistic genius and madness in this gritty, profoundly unsettling literary thriller. Cass 'Scary' Neary, a self-destructive photographer, enjoyed her 15 minutes of fame snapping shots of the punk scene's most squalid moments. Now forgotten and aging gracelessly, Cass gets a shot at rehabilitation when a friend assigns her to interview Aphrodite Kamestos, a photographer from the fringe of the '60s counterculture, whose morbid vision influenced Cass herself. On remote Paswegas Island off the coast of Maine, Cass finds a dissipated and surly Aphrodite who sees in Cass the darkest aspects of herself. Worse, Cass discovers that a remnant of a commune Aphrodite helped found has taken her bleak aesthetic to the next level in an effort to penetrate mysteries of life and death. Cass is a complex and thoroughly believable character who behaves selfishly — sometimes despicably — yet still compels reader sympathy. The novel's final chapters, in which Cass confronts a horrifying embodiment of the extremes to which her own artistic inclinations could lead, are a terror tour-de-force that testify to the power of great fiction to disturb and provoke." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Hand's terse but transporting prose keeps the reader turning pages until Neary's gritty charm does, finally, shine through." Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"Intense and atmospheric, Generation Loss is an inventive brew of postpunk attitude and dark mystery. Elizabeth Hand writes with craftsmanship and passion." George Pelecanos

Review:

"Hand's complex themes are triumphantly catalyzed and elaborated thereby, making for that rare thing: a thriller that means something. This one means a lot." Nick Gevers, Locus

Review:

"Like William Burroughs and Mary Gaitskill, Hand stuns her readers into finding enjoyment in her gravel pit." Cleveland Plain Dealer

About the Author

Elizabeth Hand, New York Times notable and multiple-award-winning author, has written eight novels, including the cult classic Waking the Moon, and several short-story collections. She is a longtime contributor to numerous publications, including the Washington Post Book World and the Village Voice Literary Supplement. She and her two children divide their time between the coast of Maine and North London.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Todd Mowrer, October 23, 2008 (view all comments by Todd Mowrer)
I picked this book up in the Sci Fi section, but it is not a science fiction book. It is a surreal trip into the hinterlands of the Maine coast and the human mind. It is like watching (reading) a slow motion car crash: unsettling, but mesmerizing. I pick it up, set it down and realize an hour has gone by. I find it hard to believe that this is the same Elizabeth Hand as the Star Wars novels.
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Pat Shannon, October 3, 2008 (view all comments by Pat Shannon)
I read this book in the spring of 2008 and am still having dreams about it as the brightly colored leaves of autumn begin falling here in Maine. The story got under my skin and I carry it like a faint tattoo. The characters took me places that I did not want to go, and yet I am grateful for the journey.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780156031349
Author:
Hand, Elizabeth
Publisher:
Harvest Books
Subject:
General Photography
Subject:
General
Subject:
Women photographers
Subject:
New york (state)
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Thrillers
Edition Description:
Harvest
Publication Date:
April 2008
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
291
Dimensions:
7.99x5.42x.76 in. .61 lbs.
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