Thirteen Ways of Looking: Fiction - Tapa dura

Praise for Colum McCann
"TransAtlantic"
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
"Reminiscent of the finest work of Michael Ondaatje and Michael Cunningham."--"O: The Oprah Magazine"
" "
"Here is the uncanny thing McCann finds again and again about the miraculous: that it is inseparable from the everyday."--"The Boston Globe"
"Another sweeping, beautifully constructed tapestry of life . . . Reading McCann is a rare joy."--"The Seattle Times"
" "
"Let the Great World Spin"
Winner of the National Book Award
"One of the most electric, profound novels I have read in years."--Jonathan Mahler, "The New York Times Book Review"
"Stunning . . . [an] elegiac glimpse of hope."--"USA Today"
" "
"There's so much passion and humor and pure life force on every page that you'll find yourself giddy, dizzy, overwhelmed."--Dave Eggers

Praise for Colum McCann
""
"Let the Great World Spin"
Winner of the National Book Award
One of the most electric, profound novels I have read in years. Jonathan Mahler, "The New York Times Book Review"
Stunning . . . [an] elegiac glimpse of hope. "USA Today"
""
There s so much passion and humor and pure life force on every page that you ll find yourself giddy, dizzy, overwhelmed. Dave Eggers
"TransAtlantic"
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prizeand the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Reminiscent of the finest work of Michael Ondaatje and Michael Cunningham. "O: The Oprah Magazine"
""
Here is the uncanny thing McCann finds again and again about the miraculous: that it is inseparable from the everyday. "The Boston Globe"
Another sweeping, beautifully constructed tapestry of life . . . Reading McCann is a rare joy. "The Seattle Times""

The irreducible mystery of human experience ties this small collection together, and in each of these stories [Colum] McCann explores that theme in some strikingly effective ways. . . . McCann has perfected a method of finely blending his own narration with his characters thoughts and dialogue. . . . [The first story] is as fascinating as it is poignant. . . . [The second] captures the mundane and mysterious aspects of shaping characters from the gray clay of words, placing them in realistic settings and breathing life into their lungs. . . . That he makes the story so emotionally compelling is a sign of his genius. . . . The most remarkable [piece] is "Sh khol." . . . Caught in the rushing currents of this drama, you know you re reading a little masterpiece. . . . [It s] only one of the treasures in this collection. "The Washington Post"
""
McCann is a writer of power and subtlety and beauty. . . . The powerful title story loiters in the mind long after you ve read it. Sarah Lyall, "The New York Times"
""
[McCann] unspools complex and unforgettable stories in this, his first collection in more than a decade. "The Boston Globe"
""
McCann is a passionate writer whose impulse is always toward a generous understanding of his diverse characters. "The Wall Street Journal"
""
McCann s characters in this new work whether nuns or judges or writers are mostly ordinary people encountering extraordinary situations often touched by loss. Powerful, profound, and deeply empathetic, McCann s beautifully wrought writing in "Thirteen Ways of Looking" glides off the page. "BuzzFeed"
""
In just three short stories and one novella, McCann weaves the magic that made "Let the Great World Spin" so acclaimed especially in one brilliant short piece of metafiction in which the process of writing a story becomes interwoven with the story created. "The Huffington Post""

Extraordinary . . . incandescent. "Chicago Tribune"
The irreducible mystery of human experience ties this small collection together, and in each of these stories [Colum] McCann explores that theme in some strikingly effective ways. . . . McCann has perfected a method of finely blending his own narration with his characters thoughts and dialogue. . . . [The first story] is as fascinating as it is poignant. . . . [The second] captures the mundane and mysterious aspects of shaping characters from the gray clay of words, placing them in realistic settings and breathing life into their lungs. . . . That he makes the story so emotionally compelling is a sign of his genius. . . . The most remarkable [piece] is "Sh khol." . . . Caught in the rushing currents of this drama, you know you re reading a little masterpiece. . . . [It s] only one of the treasures in this collection. "The Washington Post"
""
McCann is a writer of power and subtlety and beauty. . . . The powerful title story loiters in the mind long after you ve read it. Sarah Lyall, "The New York Times"
""
[McCann] unspools complex and unforgettable stories in this, his first collection in more than a decade. "The Boston Globe"
""
McCann is a passionate writer whose impulse is always toward a generous understanding of his diverse characters. "The Wall Street Journal"
""
McCann s characters in this new work whether nuns or judges or writers are mostly ordinary people encountering extraordinary situations often touched by loss. Powerful, profound, and deeply empathetic, McCann s beautifully wrought writing in "Thirteen Ways of Looking" glides off the page. "BuzzFeed"
""
In just three short stories and one novella, McCann weaves the magic that made "Let the Great World Spin" so acclaimed especially in one brilliant short piece of metafiction in which the process of writing a story becomes interwoven with the story created. "The Huffington Post""

Extraordinary . . . incandescent. Chicago Tribune
The irreducible mystery of human experience ties this small collection together, and in each of these stories [Colum] McCann explores that theme in some strikingly effective ways. . . . McCann has perfected a method of finely blending his own narration with his characters thoughts and dialogue. . . . [The first story] is as fascinating as it is poignant. . . . [The second] captures the mundane and mysterious aspects of shaping characters from the gray clay of words, placing them in realistic settings and breathing life into their lungs. . . . That he makes the story so emotionally compelling is a sign of his genius. . . . The most remarkable [piece] is Sh khol. . . . Caught in the rushing currents of this drama, you know you re reading a little masterpiece. . . . [It s] only one of the treasures in this collection. The Washington Post

McCann is a writer of power and subtlety and beauty. . . . The powerful title story loiters in the mind long after you ve read it. Sarah Lyall, The New York Times

[McCann] unspools complex and unforgettable stories in this, his first collection in more than a decade. The Boston Globe

McCann is a passionate writer whose impulse is always toward a generous understanding of his diverse characters. The Wall Street Journal

McCann s characters in this new work whether nuns or judges or writers are mostly ordinary people encountering extraordinary situations often touched by loss. Powerful, profound, and deeply empathetic, McCann s beautifully wrought writing in Thirteen Ways of Looking glides off the page. BuzzFeed

In just three short stories and one novella, McCann weaves the magic that made Let the Great World Spin so acclaimed especially in one brilliant short piece of metafiction in which the process of writing a story becomes interwoven with the story created. The Huffington Post"

In such acclaimed novels as Let the Great World Spin and TransAtlantic,National Book Award–winning author Colum McCann has transfixed readers with his precision, tenderness, and authority. Now, in his first collection of short fiction in more than a decade, McCann charts the territory of chance, and the profound and intimate consequences of even our smallest moments.
 
“As it was, it was like being set down in the best of poems, carried into a cold landscape, blindfolded, turned around, unblindfolded, forced, then, to invent new ways of seeing.”
 
In the exuberant title novella, a retired judge reflects on his life’s work, unaware as he goes about his daily routines that this particular morning will be his last. In “Sh’khol,” a mother spending Christmas alone with her son confronts the unthinkable when he disappears while swimming off the coast near their home in Ireland. In “Treaty,” an elderly nun catches a snippet of a news report in which it is revealed that the man who once kidnapped and brutalized her is alive, masquerading as an agent of peace. And in “What Time Is It Now, Where You Are?” a writer constructs a story about a Marine in Afghanistan calling home on New Year’s Eve.
 
Deeply personal, subtly subversive, at times harrowing, and indeed funny, yet also full of comfort,Thirteen Ways of Looking is a striking achievement. With unsurpassed empathy for his characters and their inner lives, Colum McCann forges from their stories a profound tribute to our search for meaning and grace. The collection is a rumination on the power of storytelling in a world where language and memory can sometimes falter, but in the end do not fail us, and a contemplation of the healing power of literature.
 
Praise for Colum McCann
 
Let the Great World Spin
Winner of the National Book Award
 
“One of the most electric, profound novels I have read in years.”—Jonathan Mahler, The New York Times Book Review
 
“Stunning . . . [an] elegiac glimpse of hope.”—USA Today
 
“There’s so much passion and humor and pure life force on every page that you’ll find yourself giddy, dizzy, overwhelmed.”—Dave Eggers
 
TransAtlantic
Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
 
“Reminiscent of the finest work of Michael Ondaatje and Michael Cunningham.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
 
“Here is the uncanny thing McCann finds again and again about the miraculous: that it is inseparable from the everyday.”—The Boston Globe
 
“Another sweeping, beautifully constructed tapestry of life . . . Reading McCann is a rare joy.”—The Seattle Times