Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec, Paperback, 9781567923735 | Buy online at The Nile
Departments
 Free Returns*

Life: A User's Manual

A User's Manual

Author: Georges Perec   Series: Verba Mundi (Paperback)

Paperback

"Originally published in French in 1978 as La Vie mode d'emploi by Editions Hachette Litterature, Paris"--T.p. verso.

Read more
$60.49
Or pay later with
Check delivery options
Paperback

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Summary

"Originally published in French in 1978 as La Vie mode d'emploi by Editions Hachette Litterature, Paris"--T.p. verso.

Read more

Description

"One of the great novels of the century. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the late 20th century has produced a novel on the level of Joyce, Proust, Mann, Kafka, and Nabokov."--Boston Globe

From the confessions of a racing cyclist to the plans of an avenging murderer, from a young ethnographer obsessed with a Sumatran tribe to the death of a trapeze artist, Life is stories connected by a single moment in time (8:00 p.m. on June 23, 1975) in an apartment block in the XVIIth arrondissement of Paris. Chapter by chapter, room by room, an extraordinary rich cast of characters is revealed in a series of tales that are bizarre, unlikely, moving, funny, or (sometimes) quite ordinary. The apartment block's one hundred rooms are arranged in a magic square, and the book, too, contains a staggering range of literary puzzles and allusions, acrostics, problems of chess and logic, crosswords, and mathematical formula. All for the reader to solve.

Read more

Critic Reviews

“Praise for Life A User's Manual "Those who have a taste for the unusual, for books that create worlds unto themselves, will be dazzled by this crazy-quilt monument to the imagination."-- The New York Times Book Review "In this wondrously optimistic book, he sidles through the lives of the inhabitants of a single Paris apartment block and manages to convey scintillas of every aspect of the human condition--proving that, while ultimately without point, life is a continuum rich beyond belief, and so very well worth living."-- The Week Magazine "This elaborate jigsaw puzzle of a novel has drawn comparisons to the masterworks of twentieth-century literature."-- Rolling Stone "A classic of contemporary fiction."-- Publishers Weekly "Absolutely indispensable...a postmodern work that you shouldn't miss out on."-- The Huffington Post”

Praise for Life A User's Manual

"Those who have a taste for the unusual, for books that create worlds unto themselves, will be dazzled by this crazy-quilt monument to the imagination."--The New York Times Book Review

"In this wondrously optimistic book, he sidles through the lives of the inhabitants of a single Paris apartment block and manages to convey scintillas of every aspect of the human condition--proving that, while ultimately without point, life is a continuum rich beyond belief, and so very well worth living."--The Week Magazine

"This elaborate jigsaw puzzle of a novel has drawn comparisons to the masterworks of twentieth-century literature."--Rolling Stone

"A classic of contemporary fiction."--Publishers Weekly

"Absolutely indispensable...a postmodern work that you shouldn't miss out on."--The Huffington Post

Read more

About the Author

Georges Perec was one of the most important experimental writers ofthe twentieth century. His many works include the novels Life: AUser's Manual; W, Or, The Memory of Childhood; and The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
David R. Godine Publisher | David R. Godine Publisher Inc
Published
30th September 2008
Edition
2nd
Pages
661
ISBN
9781567923735

Returns

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.

$60.49
Or pay later with
Check delivery options