Your Fathers, where are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?

📖 The Scoop

In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at the chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.

And so begins Dave Eggers's tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man, struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.

'Politically and polemically engaged in the tradition of Dickens and Zola . . . another novel located in a frightened, divided, deceitful and possibly disintegrating America . . . Many skillfully delayed revelations . . . privately and publicly astute, confirming that the writer's joke about genius in his debut title was not entirely misplaced.' The Gaurdian

'Eggers can write about pretty much anything and make it glitter and somersault on the page . . . dazzling and highly original.' Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

'Possibly the most admired and emulated American author of his generation.' Independent

'One of the country's leading literary eminences.' Washington Post

' A story about someone who takes revenge against the world because he can't fathom how he fits into it. . . This is a one-sitting read . . . Insightful.' USA Today

'The faint echo of Plato's dialogues . . . Raising questions about the appropriate relationship between authority and compassion.' Kirkus

'As is always true with Eggers, those ideas - laid out here in quasi-Socratic dialogue - are inherently interesting. I can think of few contemporary American writers who convey such a sense of urgency about the mess we're in - or how important it is that we, like the Israelites surrounding Zechariah, resurrect the once-glorious Temple. Eggers pulls no punches. . . Eggers makes these points even as he simultaneously manages empathy for Thomas' plight, as a man who has inherited a fallen world he never made.' Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

'A jazz session - a brief, single helping of strangeness that flaunts his panache for stylistic experimentation. . . The writing is compelling and the characterization astute.' Booklist

'. . . as much a play as a novel, except there is no direction, no indication of action or scene beyond what the characters describe. So deft is he, however, that the setting and mood are perfectly clear..Eggers writes so well you would read a computer manual if it was by him, but beneath his beguiling style is a base note of genuine concern about those who find themselves out of kilter with society.' The Herald

'His latest novella, Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? stretches his toying with literary forms to new lengths...... compelling.' Evening Standard

'I've never read a novel quite like this . . . Let's say it's a very interesting novel. But when has our Dave done anything uninteresting?' The Times

Genre: Fiction / General (fancy, right?)