Synopses & Reviews
In this critically acclaimed comic masterpiece, David Gilbert tells the story of Billy Schine, a young man who innocently enrolls in a 14-day human drug testing study and finds his normal world turned upside-down. Like a One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest for the postmodern age, The Normals is a tour de force from a writer of astonishing intelligence and imagination. David Gilbert is the author of the short story collection Remote Feed. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, GQ, and Bomb. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children. In this critically acclaimed comic masterpiece, David Gilbert tells the story of Billy Schine, a young man who innocently enrolls in a 14-day human drug testing study and finds his normal world turned upside-down. He and his fellow test subjects trade battle stories from the healing fields of guinea pig, and Billy finds himself rested and well fed and possibly in love with the lone female in the study. Then the messy side effects hit, and Billy's normal world is turned upside down, the real and unreal merging until spilled blood becomes the only proof of a beating heart. Like a One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest for the postmodern age, The Normals is a tour de force from a writer of astonishing intelligence and imagination. "Much of [The Normal's] antic humor derives from Gilbert's unerring grasp of America's varied forms of self-medication. But what makes this first novel memorable is its exploration of the contradictory desire both to escape the world and to be plunged back into it."The New Yorker "Gilbert uses sharp humor to tackle serious issues such as the search for self, love, and medical ethos. This is a novel that resonates long after you turn the last page."Rocky Mountain News "A writer of loopy elegance . . . [Gilbert] is able to refract our world back to us in ways that words on the page can best convey."The Boston Globe "Gilbert writes in the vein of Vonnegut, Heller and Kesey, updated for the 21st century."Publishers Weekly
Review
"What makes this first novel memorable is its exploration of the contradictory desire both to escape the world and to be plunged back into it." New Yorker
Review
"T.C. Boyle meets Alice Sebold with a bit of Paul Theroux...Gilbert uses sharp humor to tackle serious issues such as the search for self, love, and medical ethos. This is a novel that resonates long after you turn the last page." Rocky Mountain News
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"[A] must buy...[an] intelligent and funny dissection of our ADD-addled culture." Maxim (four stars)
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"A writer of loopy elegance...[Gilbert] is able to refract our world back to us in ways that words on the page can best convey." Boston Globe
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"Fast-paced...Gilbert writes in the vein of Vonnegut, Heller and Kesey, updated for the 21st century." Publishers Weekly
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"Wild and woolly...a trenchant study of human suggestibility, tricked out with a wry subplot about the media hoopla surrounding a brain-tumor victim whose latest MRI bears a striking resemblance to the Shroud of Turin." Seattle Times
Synopsis
In this critically acclaimed comic masterpiece, David Gilbert tells the story of Billy Schine, a young man who innocently enrolls in a 14-day human drug testing study and finds his normal world turned upside-down. Like a
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest for the postmodern age,
The Normals is a tour de force from a writer of astonishing intelligence and imagination.