Absolute Power
David Baldacci, 1996
Hachette Books
704 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780446566568
Summary
Can the President of the United States get away with murder?
The fictional answer to this question has set the literary world on fire and transformed David Baldacci into a household name and overnight success.
Going beyond the classic works of John Grisham and Robert Ludlum, Absolute Power combines the highest levels of political intrigue with big-money law, cutting-edge forensics, and the riveting search for a truth hidden within the power of the Oval Office. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 5, 1960
• Where—Richmond, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., Virginia Commonwealth University; J.D. University of Virginia
• Currently—lives in Vienna, Virginia
David Baldacci is an American author with more than 30 bestselling novels under his belt, several of which have been adapted to film and TV. All told, his thrillers have sold over 110 million copies in 80 countries and 45 languages. Baldacci has also written five books for young readers, including two #1 bestsellers, The Finisher and The Keeper.
Early life and education
David Baldacci was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. He first began writing stories as a child when his mother gave him a notebook in which to record them. He graduated from Henrico High School and went on to get a B.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.
Career
On finishing law school, Baldacci spent nine years practicing law in Washington, D.C. He continued to write stories and later screenplays without much success, eventually turning to novels. Absolute Power took him three years—and as soon as it was published, in 1996, it became an instant international bestseller.
Personal
Along with his wife Michelle, Baldacci is co-founders of the Wish You Well Foundation, which works to combat illiteracy in the United States. In 2008 the Foundation partnered with Feeding America to launch Feeding Body & Mind, a program to address the connection between literacy, poverty and hunger. More than a million new and gently used books have been collected and distributed through food banks as a result of the program's efforts.
Baldacci resides in Vienna, Virginia, with his wife. The couple has two children. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/14/2016.)
Book Reviews
The novel's lack of suspense may result from the fact that Jack, its apparent hero, remains at the periphery of the story until it is nearly over. Absolute Power is also not helped by the lamentable familiarity of many of its characters, from the thief with a deep sense of honor to the former public defender who can't quite make the materialistic leap to corporate law.... Mr. Baldacci, a Washington-based attorney, brings an insider's savvy to his tale of unfolding political scandal, but tighter plotting would have helped him even more.
Jean Hanff Korelitz - New York Times
For any thriller to truly thrill, the plot, action and characters must cohere in a way that doesn't prompt that "oh-yeah-right" feeling—at least not too often. With this much anticipated first novel, Absolute Power, David Baldacci manages that trick. The latest lawyer-turned-novelist sensation delivers a well-paced, intricate book that just might catapult him into the front ranks of commercial fiction writers.... Deftly rendered by Baldacci, the story keeps the pages turning—fast.
USA Today
[A] sizzler of a first novel.... Baldacci doesn't peer too deeply into his characters' souls, and his prose is merely functional...but he's also a first-rate storyteller who grabs readers by their lapels right away and won't let go.
Publishers Weekly
Baldacci's first novel could stand some polishing in plot and story structure. Here's the premise: the wick-dipping president gets into a drunken knife fight with his mistress; the Secret Service rescues him but kills her; and scandal will erupt unless all witnesses are eliminated. —Gilbert Taylor
Booklist
Expect to see lots of this first-time novelist.... Absolute Power is already catching fire.... [A] page-turning thriller.... Baldacci combines all the needed elements: power, money, sex, intrigue, thwarted love, a few heroes, and more than a few villains. —Rebecca S. Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
The questions below were graciously submitted to LitLovers by Angela Scott, aka "Library Princess."
1. The President shows that he is utterly ruthless and has no regrets in walking over anyone in his way or to protect himself. Do leaders need to have some of these qualities to be successful? Do you think he means to protect the presidency or just himself?
2. What is the relationship between Kate and Luther? Is it believable? What is your opinion of Kate when she agrees to turn in her father?
3. Luther suspects that Kate has turned on him. Why do you think he goes anyhow, especially before finishing taking care of the business with the president?
4. What do you think of Jack Graham's character? Throughout the book, he takes the high ground when it comes to the law, yet he proves fallible by placing himself in situations with the ex-girlfriend while he is still technically engaged.
5. What do you think was Luther’s motivation? He could have sent the letter opener anonymously to a news agency, but he doesn’t. Instead he is set on a personal vendetta. Why do think this is so?
6. Good things can turn bad. Discuss the Secret Service agents, Burton and Collins. Throughout the novel, they go from heroes, by saving the president’s life, to assassins in the cover up. Do they ever really have the chance to say no?
7. How do you feel about the role women play in the story? Are they realistic? What do you think of Gloria Russell? Christina Sullivan? Kate Whitney? Do you see them as mostly victims?
8. How does the title “Absolute Power” fit the book? Do you feel the president has the right to absolute power? How much power is too much?
9. If you've seen the movie with Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman, what do you make of the differences between book and film?
(Questions courtesy of Angela Scott. Please feel free to use them, online of off, with attribution to Angela and LitLovers. Thanks.)
Along the Infinite Sea
Beatriz Williams, 2015
Penguin Publishing
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399171314
Summary
An epic story of star-crossed lovers in pre-war Europe collides with a woman on the run in the swinging '60s, in another riveting novel of the Schuyler sisters from the New York Times bestselling author of Tiny Little Thing.
In the autumn of 1966, Pepper Schuyler's problems are in a class of their own. To find a way to take care of herself and the baby she carries—the result of an affair with a married, legendary politician—she fixes up a beautiful and rare vintage Mercedes and sells it at auction.
But the car's new owner, the glamorous Annabelle Dommerich, has her own secrets: a Nazi husband, a Jewish lover, a flight from Europe, and a love so profound it transcends decades.
As the many threads of Annabelle's life before the Second World War stretch out to entangle Pepper in 1960s America, and the father of her unborn baby tracks her down to a remote town in coastal Georgia, the two women must come together to face down the shadows of their complicated pasts. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1971-72
• Raised—Seattle, Washington, USA
• Education—B.A., Stanford University; M.B.A., Columbia University
• Currently—lives in Greenwich, Connecticut
A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a corporate and communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons.
She now lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore, where she divides her time between writing and laundry. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
[R]iveting historical fiction that illuminates love so strong that it transcends decades.
Boston Globe
Annabelle, Stefan and Johann are a complicated and compelling love triangle. In this romantic adventure, Williams gives even the Nazi a measure of humanity. Curl up in your comfy chair and leave your doubts behind. Pepper and Annabelle are fabulous babes to spend time with on a cold winter night.
USA Today
Similar to the author’s other page-turners, there is a parallel story here about another young woman...whose life in 1935 is upended when her Jewish lover disappears.... Though Williams tries to give both narratives nearly equal weight, Annabelle’s distinctive character and story are far stronger than Pepper’s. Nonetheless, the happy ending will surely satisfy the bestselling author’s many fans.
Publishers Weekly
With spunky characters full of grace and grit... The swift pacing and emotional twists and turns of the plot will leave readers guessing up to the final pages. Recommended for readers who enjoyed the atmosphere and characters of Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) With the killer charm of a Rodgers and Hammerstein score and a touch of du Maurier intrigue, Williams' latest sexy and enthralling period drama (on the high heels of Tiny Little Thing) draws readers into the parallel, luxe worlds of two sparky women in the post-Camelot 1960s (a Best Book of the Year).
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Along the Infinite Sea...then take off on your own:
1. Talk about the two women, Pepper and Annabelle. Describe their personalities—how they differ from and how they resemble one another. What does Annabelle see in Pepper (other than the pregnancy) that draws her to the younger woman?
2. Is it probable that a woman with a Jewish lover, especially if he joins the Resistance, would fall in love with a Nazi officer? How does the author portray Johann? Talk, then, about the nature of love—how it grows in the most improbable of circumstances and is capable of surmounting obstacles thrown in its path. Does love conquer all?
3. The story switches back and forth between the two heroines and two time frames. Did you find one story more compelling than the other, or were both equally engaging to you?
4. Did you find the plot predictable? Or were you pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns and the way in which the book ended?
5. Have you read Beatriz Williams's two previous books in the Schuyler sisters series. If so, how does this book compare? Is it necessary to have read the other two before reading this third installment, or does this last stand on its own?
6. Talk about the title of the book, "Along the Infinite Sea," and its significance to the story?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Take Me With You
Catherine Ryan Hyde, 2014
Amazon Publishing
362 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781477820018
Summary
Seth and his little brother Henry haven't had the most stable of upbringings. Their fathcer has been in and out of jail; their mother took off years ago and hasn't been seen since. Life is constantly uncertain—but a twist of fate could be just what they need.
August stopped drinking the day his son died. While on a journey that's very close to his heart, a breakdown leaves him stranded in a small town and at the mercy of the local mechanic—Seth and Henry's father.
But then August is presented with an offer he doesn't expect: take the two boys with him for the summer, and pay no charge for the repairs.
As the unlikely trio set out on their road trip, the most unlikely, unforgettable friendship begins to take shape.
What none of them could have known was how transformative both the trip—and the bonds that develop between them—would prove, driving each to create a new destiny together. (From Random House-New Zealand.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1955
• Where—Buffalo, New York, USA
• Education—High School
• Currently—lives in Cambria, California
Catherine was born into a family of writers, and lived during her early life in the Buffalo, New York. (She points to a favorite teacher, Lenny Horowitz, for helping her change from being "the last kid picked" for a team to finally becoming a writer.) After an accelerated graduation from high school at 17, she headed to New York City planning to do something other than writing—anything that might provide a steadier paycheck. Over the years, she worked as a baker, pastry chef, auto mechanic, dog trainer, and tour guide.
Then, in the early 1980s Hyde decided to dedicate herself to becoming a full-time writer. By the mid-'80s, she had moved to a small town on California’s Central Coast, where she decided to come to terms with her alcohol and drug addiction. Twenty-five years on, Hyde is clean and sober—and now the author of nearly 25 novels, as well as numerous short stories.
She has won literary accolades throughout the world. Her bestselling novel Pay it Forward was adapted into a major motion picture starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt, and translated into 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries.
When not writing, Hyde hikes, kayaks, and visits national parks. The research for Take Me With You was all done from her own little twenty-two-foot motorhome. (Adapted from the publisher and Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/10/2016.)
Book Reviews
Hyde's book digs deeply into the ties of love, between both family and strangers.... Hyde gives her characters great internal depth, and the book’s scope gives readers time to savor this memorable, moving journey.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Take Me With You...then take off on your own:
1. A journey in literature is a classic metaphor for an inward journey (think The Odyssey). In what way is August's trip in Take Me With You an emotional or psychological one? Describe August Schroeder's state of mind at the beginning of the novel and how he changes by the end of the trip.
2. What kind of father is Wes and what is his relationship with his sons?
3. Why does August initially decline to take Seth and Henry with him to Yellowstone? What causes him to change his mind? Is it simply a matter of money?
4. How would you describe the two boys, Seth and Henry, and their relationship as brothers. Why doesn't Henry talk?
5. Then there's Woody—can't forget him. How does he fit into the mix?
6.Talk about the budding relationship among August and the Seth and Henry. Trace its development as they open up to one another. What did you find most affecting?
7. What role does the natural world play in this book in terms of healing? If you are a hiker or spend time outdoors, how well does Catherine Ryan Hyde epict the wonders of Yellowstone National Park? Does the fact that the author herself is a lover of the outdoors—as a kyaker, hiker, and dog lover—come through in her writing?
8. Addiction plays a large part in this novel: both August and Wes suffer from it. How does August work through his own problems with alcohol, and how does he help the boys understand their father's addition?
9. How does the trip eight years later repeat similar themes of the first trip? What has changed—or who has changed—and in what ways?
10. The book asks an important question about what consititues family. Is family what you are born into, or can you create your own? If so, how?
11. Were you satisfied with the novel's conclusion?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online of off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
Dominic Smith, 2016
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780374106683
Summary
A rare 17th-century painting links three lives, on three continents, over three centuries in the last painting of Sara de Vos, an Exhililarating new novel from Dominic Smith.
Amsterdam, 1631:
Sara de Vos becomes the first woman to be admitted as a master painter to the city’s Guild of St. Luke.
Though women do not paint landscapes (they are generally restricted to indoor subjects), a wintry outdoor scene haunts Sara: She cannot shake the image of a young girl from a nearby village, standing alone beside a silver birch at dusk, staring out at a group of skaters on the frozen river below. Defying the expectations of her time, she decides to paint it.
New York City, 1957:
The only known surviving work of Sara de Vos, At the Edge of a Wood, hangs in the bedroom of a wealthy Manhattan lawyer, Marty de Groot, a descendant of the original owner. It is a beautiful but comfortless landscape.
The lawyer’s marriage is prominent but comfortless, too. When a struggling art history grad student, Ellie Shipley, agrees to forge the painting for a dubious art dealer, she finds herself entangled with its owner in ways no one could predict.
Sydney, 2000:
Now a celebrated art historian and curator, Ellie Shipley is mounting an exhibition in her field of specialization: female painters of the Dutch Golden Age.
When it becomes apparent that both the original At the Edge of a Wood and her forgery are en route to her museum, the life she has carefully constructed threatens to unravel entirely and irrevocably. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Sydney, Australia
• Education—M.F.A., University of Texas-Austin
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Austin, Texas, USA
Dominic Smith grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Austin, Texas. He holds an MFA in writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. His short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including Atlantic Monthly.
Recognition
Dominic has been the recipient of the Dobie Paisano Fellowship, the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Prize, the Gulf Coast Fiction Prize, and a new works grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.
Novels
His 2006 debut novel The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre was selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. It also received the Steven Turner Prize for First Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters.
Dominic's second novel, The Beautiful Miscellaneous, came out in 2007 and was a Booklist Editors' Choice. It has been optioned for a film by Southpaw Entertainment.
His third novel—Bright and Distant Shores—was published in 2011. It was named by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Books of 2011 and chosen by the American Library Association for its annual reading list. In Australia, it was shortlisted for The Age Book of the Year and the Vance Palmer Prize, two of Australia's foremost literary awards.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, his fourth novel, was published in 2016 to excellent reviews.
Dominic serves on the fiction faculty in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers in Asheville, North Carolina. He has taught recently at the University of Texas at Austin, Southern Methodist University, and Rice University. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The genius of Smith’s book is not just the caper plot but also the interweaving of three alternating timelines and locations to tell a wider, suspenseful story of one painting’s rippling impact on three people over multiple centuries and locations.
Ian Shapira - Washigton Post
[L]ustrous.... The Last Painting braids Ellie's story together with the life of the titular Sara, a fictionalized amalgam of the few Dutch women painters...[through] skillful plotting and effortless prose.... Though the characters' realizations about their motives are at times belabored, the shifting perspectives of The Last Painting keep epiphanies from feeling too neat. Both melancholy and defiant, Smith's novel leaves us with the sense that the truths we make are no less valuable for being inexact. As Sara points out, "Surely, this is the way of all art.
Anna Clark - Chicago Tribune
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos is a deeply researched, beautifully written, intellectually absorbing novel that also has the qualities of a page-turner...a tremendous story of art, deception, love, ambition and the place of women in the world, and in history. From the opening pages you know you are in the hands of a writer at the top of his game.
Stephen Romei - Australian
Smith’s novel centers on two women who live hundreds of years apart yet are inextricably linked.... [T]he technical process...enrich this nove.... Smith’s paintings, like his settings, come alive through detail:...two women from different times and places both able to capture on canvas simultaneous beauty and sadness.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Highly evocative of time and place, this stunning novel explores a triumvirate of fate, choice, and consequence and is worthy of comparison to Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring and Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch . . . Just as a painter may utilize thousands of fine brushstrokes, Smith slowly creates a masterly, multilayered story that will dazzle readers of fine historical fiction.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) [W]onderfully engaging.... Rich in historical detail, the novel explores the immense challenges faced by women in the arts (past and present), provides a glimpse into the seedy underbelly of the art world across the centuries, and illustrates the transformative power and influence of great art. An outstanding achievement, filled with flawed and fascinating characters. —Kerri Price
Booklist
Smith’s latest novel is a rich and detailed story that connects a 17th-century Dutch painting to its 20th-century American owner and the lonely but fervent art student who makes the life-changing decision to forge it. This is a beautiful, patient, and timeless book, one that builds upon centuries and shows how the smallest choices—like the chosen mix for yellow paint—can be the definitive markings of an entire life.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What does At the Edge of a Wood mean to Sara, Marty, and Ellie? How did your reactions to the painting shift throughout the novel?
2. How does the memory of Kathrijn influence Sara’s art? What are Sara’s perceptions of mortality and the natural world?
3. What does the novel reveal about the distinctions between artists and art historians, and between collectors and dealers? Is art forgery a form of art?
4. What empowers Ellie and Sara despite the chauvinism they face when they launch their respective careers?
5. Would you want the Rent-a-Beats at your party? In their disdain for capitalism, do they do a good job of exposing the plight of someone like Sara?
6. As you read about the great lengths taken to transport the painting from the museum in Leiden, what came to mind about the value of a fake? What value should Ellie’s painstakingly created painting possess? How does the muddy nature of falsehood and illusion shape her relationship with Marty?
7. As you observed the stark difference between the Guild of St. Luke in the Netherlands and the modern auction scene in Manhattan, what did you discover about the economics of the art world? Has the patronage system that provided Sara with a benefactor (through Barent’s creditor, Cornelis Groen) disappeared?
8. If you had been in Ellie’s situation, would you have accepted Gabriel’s invitation to “restore” At the Edge of a Wood?
9. Discuss the three marriages portrayed in the book: Sara and Barent, Sara and Tomas, Marty and Rachel. When does love flourish in the novel? What causes it to fade?
10. What is Marty seeking on his sojourn to Sydney? What realizations emerge when he and Ellie are reunited? What misconceptions are laid to rest?
11. Beyond additional paintings, what is Ellie seeking when she makes the pilgrimage to Edith Zeller’s bed-and-breakfast?
12. Consider the author’s decision to make the Dutch Golden Age his backdrop. What particular qualities permeate the novel as a result of that choice.
13. Does At the Edge of a Wood convey any messages that endure across the centuries? What would Sara think if she could have known the fate of her work?
14. How does The Last Painting of Sara de Vos enhance the portraits of humanity presented in other novels by Dominic Smith that you have enjoyed?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
Olivia Laing, 2016
Picador
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250039576
Summary
A dazzling work of memoir, biography and cultural criticism on the subject of loneliness, told through the lives of six iconic artists.
What does it mean to be lonely? How do we live, if we're not intimately engaged with another human being? How do we connect with other people? Does technology draw us closer together or trap us behind screens?
When Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her mid-thirties, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by this most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art.
Moving fluidly between works and lives - from Edward Hopper's Nighthawks to Andy Warhol's Time Capsules, from Henry Darger's hoarding to David Wojnarowicz's AIDS activism - Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone.
Humane, provocative and deeply moving, The Lonely City is about the spaces between people and the things that draw them together, about sexuality, mortality and the magical possibilities of art. It's a celebration of a strange and lovely state, adrift from the larger continent of human experience, but intrinsic to the very act of being alive. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Olivia Laing, born in 1977, is a British writer, author, and critic.
Her first book, To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface, was published in 2011. It was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize and named a Book of the Year by a number of British papers: Independent, Evening Standard, Financial Times, and Scotsman. The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking, her second book, came out in 2013, and her third, The Lonely City: Adventures in Being Alone was released in 2016. The latter books have both been widely praised.
Laing has served as the deputy books editor of the Observer and also writes for the Guardian, New Statesman, and Granta, among other publications.
She has been a MacDowell and Yaddo Fellow and Writer in Residence at the British Library. She lives in Cambridge, England. (Adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Olivia Laing, in her new book, The Lonely City, picks up the topic of painful urban isolation and sets it down in many smart and oddly consoling places. She makes the topic her own.... Perhaps the best praise I can give this book is to concur with Ms. Laing’s dedication: "If you’re lonely, this one’s for you."
Dwight Garner - New York Times
This book serves as both provocation and comfort, a secular prayer for those who are alone―meaning all of us.
Ada Calhoun - New York Times Book Review
[Laing] is a brave writer whose books, in their different ways, open up fundamental questions about life and art…. What’s startling is that her book succeeds in offering its readers a redemptive experience comparable to the one she’s describing. Reading it at a lonely moment, I found that I responded easily to the confident muscularity of her prose and the intimate way she described emotional states. I became swiftly less lonely as I did so, earthed by the company of Wojnarowicz, Warhol and Laing herself….This triumphant book is in part an appeal for us to value the kind of loneliness that can be rendered, by the intimacy of art, both tolerable and shareable.
Daily Telegraph (UK)
[A] lovely thing. Exceptionally skillful at changing gears, Ms. Laing moves fluently between memoir, biography (not just of her principal cast but of a large supporting one), art criticism and the fruits of her immersion in "loneliness studies."... She writes about Darger and the rest with insight and empathy and about herself with a refreshing lack of exhibitionism.…every page of The Lonely City exudes a disarming, deep-down fondness for humanity.
Wall Street Journal
Laing, who used group biography to examine the connections between alcoholism and literature in The Trip to Echo Spring, here performs an almost magical trick: Reminding us of how it feels to be lonely, this book gently affirms our connectedness.
Boston Globe
An uncommonly observant hybrid of memoir, history and cultural criticism... [A] book of extraordinary compassion and insight.
San Francisco Chronicle
Laing is an astute and consistently surprising culture critic who deeply identifies with her subjects' vulnerabilities... absolutely one of a kind.
Maureen Corrigan - NPR's Fresh Air
It's not easy to pull off switching between criticism and confession―and like Echo Spring, The Lonely City is an impressive and beguiling combination of autobiography and biography, a balancing act that Laing effortlessly performs. Her gift as a critic is her ability to imaginatively sympathize with her subject in a way that allows the art and life of the artist to go on radiating meaning after the book is closed.
Elle
One of the finest writers of the new non-fiction...compelling and original.
Harper's Bazaar
Laing is always circling back toward a piercingly relevant observation. And, oh, those observations! ... Laing is a great critic, not least because she understands that art can and often does manifest multiple conflicting meanings and desires at once.
Laura Miller - Slate
[An] acute, nervy and personal investigation into urban solitude….[Laing] writes with lyrical clarity, empathy, and a knack for taking a wandering, edgy path, stretching themes (and genres), while never losing an underlying urgency…. A group biography all in one, which takes a difficult, almost taboo, subject and deftly turns it over anew.
New Statesman
By focusing on four artists…Laing’s writing becomes expansive, exploring their biographies, sharing art analysis, and weaving in observations.... She invents new ways to consider how isolation plays into art or even the Internet.... For once, loneliness becomes a place worth lingering.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [An] imaginative and poignant quest….Through her ardent research, empathetic response, original thought, courageous candor, and exquisite language, Laing [is one of the authors] transforming memoir into a daring and dynamic literary form of discovery.
Booklist
[An] absorbing melding of memoir, biography, art essay, and philosophical meditation...[An] illuminating, enriching book.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for The Lonely City...then take off on your own:
1. Olivia Laing writes of loneliness in a large city—New York, specifically—and after a relationship break-up. If you don't live in a metropolitan area, however, does this book resonate with you? Is the urban loneliness that Laing dissects in her book different than loneliness felt elsewhere...or under different conditions?
2. Laing talks about loneliness in these terms:
What does it feel like to be lonely? It feels like being hungry: like being hungry when everyone around you is readying for a feast. It feels shameful and alarming, and over time these feelings radiate outwards, making the lonely person increasingly isolated, increasingly estranged.
What do you make of this particular passage? In reading it—or others in the book—were you consoled to think that others have a deep sense of isolation, that you are not alone in your loneliness? In other words, did you become less lonely reading this book?
3. Laing writes about feelings common to loneliness: that we're unattractive or sexually undesirable. Is that a cause or an effect of loneliness?
4. Talk about your own loneliness and isolation—the times when you felt cut off, ashamed. Were there (are there) specific times or events in your life that have brought on loneliness?
5. What is Laing's take regarding our online lives? How does the internet contribute to a sense of isolation? Do you agree?
6. Talk about the four artists Laing researches, considering them one by one. Discuss how their work is bound up with the concept of loneliness—or in providing the author insights into her own. Which artist biographies do you find most interesting? Were Laing's choice of artists apt...or does she force fit her subjects to the topic at hand?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online of off, with attribution. Thanks.)