Synopses & Reviews
A Key to Treehouse Living is the adventure of William Tyce, a boy without parents who grows up near a river in the rural Midwest. In a glossary-style list, he imparts his particular wisdom on subjects ranging from ASPHALT PATHS, BETA FISH, and MULLET to MORTAL BETRAYAL, NIHILISM, and REVELATION. His improbable quest — to create a reference volume specific to his existence — takes him on a journey down the river by raft (see MYSTICAL VISION, see NAVIGATING BIG RIVERS BY NIGHT). He seeks to discover how his mother died (see ABSENCE) and find reasons for his father's disappearance (see UNCERTAINTY, see VANITY). But as he goes about defining his changing world, all kinds of extraordinary and wonderful things happen to him.
Unlocking an earnest, clear-eyed way of thinking that might change your own, A Key to Treehouse Living is a story about keeping your own record straight and living life by a different code.
Review
"Huckleberry Finn advanced out of antebellum doldrums into the poetic modern perverse, with the same charm. Subtle, daring, brilliant." Padgett Powell
Review
"Crisp and lyrical, emotionally assured, delightfully inventive — Reed has made a marvelous debut." Kirkus
Review
"Disorienting, weirdly wise, indescribably transparent, impossibly recognizable. Fun, too." Joy Williams
Review
"Powered in part by longing and a need to make odd associations add up, this very appealing novel emplys jellybeans and gypsies, tree forts and rafts, and a character known as El Hondero to trace the odd conjuring that this narrator brings us in on. A memorable debut." Amy Hempel
About the Author
Elliot Reed received his MFA from the University of Florida in Gainesville and is currently living in Spokane, Washington.
Elliot Reed on PowellsBooks.Blog
Once you have had 6-8 cups of coffee, it’s time to enter the room you’ve designated as a writing area. Upon entering the room, make an inspection of your desk. Even a good desk could be much better than it is. Contemplate how you might improve the look and feel of your desk so that later, when you’re dead and people on a guided tour of your house enter the writing room...
Read More»