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Sea of Hooks

by Lindsay Hill
Sea of Hooks

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9781620540060
ISBN10: 1620540061
Condition: Standard
DustJacket: Standard

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

A boy grew up beside a sea of hooks and he learned to swim in that sea and to notice the hooks as they rose and fell and twisted in the tides...

What if you saw the world — with all its signs and signals, its schedules and habits and goals, the matrix of friends, the unspoken codes of conduct — emptied of ordinary meaning?

Imagine that the debris collected from the streets of your childhood spoke more urgently to you, with messages and wonders that compelled you to enter another world, a world whose broken pieces converged at the junctures of vision and illusion, of life and death. In this wise and beautiful novel, the reader follows Christopher Westall, an alarmingly imaginative young man, through repeated trauma and transformation, on a journey from San Francisco to Bhutan.

His shattered life is woven from a thousand shards, hints, signs and tangled threads that are pursued and gathered toward its reassembly.

As memory, dream, fear and resilience exert their tidal pulls, Christopher's life tilts, collides, reverses, dissolves and reemerges, while risks and revelations glisten side-by-side in the depths of the Sea of Hooks.

Review

"Sea of Hooks is an impressive work that uses...[a] fractured format to great effect, benefiting from Hill's powerful poetic sensibility." Shelf Awareness

Review

"Poets see the world in a different way from the rest of us, and Sea of Hooks shows that, at least in the case of poet Lindsay Hill, they see novels differently, too. The first work of fiction from Hill, Sea of Hooks could be described as a coming-of-age novel — but that would do an injustice to its unique form....Dipping in and out of poetry like toes flirting with a blue lake's water, Sea of Hooks isn't an easy read, but it's often mesmerizing." Seattle Times

Review

"Sea of Hooks is a terrifyingly beautiful novel by Portland writer Lindsay Hill. I can't think of the last time a book wrapped itself around me with such instant intensity, pulling me into another space, another life, one so steeped in pain from the first paragraph — yet I couldn't put it down....Unbelievably, this is Hill's first novel. More believable when you know he labored on it for 20 years; it reflects the depth and richness of a life's work and love. Recognition has begun: it has just been included in Publishers Weekly 10 Best Books for 2013, one of only five novels. May it find the passionate readership it deserves." The Oregonian

Review

"Lindsay Hill's astonishing novel, Sea of Hooks, treads the main character's pathway...with a highly original narrative form and voice." Counterpunch

About the Author

Lindsay Hill was born in San Francisco and graduated from Bard College. Since 1974, he has published six books of poetry and his work has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals. Sea of Hooks is his first novel, the product of nearly twenty years of work. His other writing and editorial projects include the production of a series of recordings of innovative writing under the Spoken Engine label, and the co-editing, with Paul Naylor, of the literary journal Facture. Since leaving a career in banking, he has worked in the nonprofit sector. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, the painter Nita Hill.

5 2

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 5 (2 comments)

`
elaineh , May 07, 2014 (view all comments by elaineh)
I don't even know where to begin in describing this book, but I knew from the outset that I wanted it to last a long, long time. The Sea of Hooks is written in the form of small snippets of information, not unlike the 'messengers' that the main character, Christopher, finds along the various pathways he walks. These messengers, little bits of discarded paper and other items, have a deeper meaning for this little boy and help him to assemble a fragmented, mysterious life that he leads. And somehow, even though the small bits of the story that we are presented with seem disconnected, they paint a whole picture of a young boy, his dysfunctional family, his unusual and sometimes abusive upbringing, and the spiritual journey that he takes into young adulthood. A very interesting book, and one that I would recommend highly. It will make you aware of the messengers that we all encounter along the way.

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`
Margaret Donsbach Tomlinson , February 19, 2014
Sea of Hooks may be the most stunningly crafted novel I've ever read. Its story about a gifted boy raised by a fragile mother and an emotionally absent father is told in paragraphs rather than chapters and portrays several stages of the central character's life while building strong suspense over the outcome of every stage. The paragraphs in which he is a child growing up in an environment saturated with emotional hazard have a quality of innocent purity overshadowed by terrible threat. The paragraphs in which he is older foreshadow some of what will happen to the boy, offering perspective and insight while withholding answers that could puncture the intensifying suspense. Another layer involves the grown man's journey to Bhutan in search of spiritual peace. In every layer, readers are invited deep into the psyche of a remarkable, and remarkably sympathetic person. So tangibly is this character portrayed, it's hard to think of him as simply a "character." Sea of Hooks offers no easy answers - life doesn't do that, either - but it illuminates in a way that feels hopeful even as it comes close to breaking the reader's heart.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9781620540060
Binding:
Hardcover
Publication date:
11/01/2013
Publisher:
McPherson
Height:
1.19IN
Width:
5.90IN
Thickness:
1.25
UPC Code:
9781620540060
Author:
Lindsay Hill
Author:
Lindsay Hill
Subject:
Literature-Coming of Age

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