Author David Vann
© Copyright 2005-10 David Vann
This is one of the most striking
fictional debuts in recent memory, and
David Vann is an important new voice
in American literature."--Robert Olen
Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
of A Good Scent from a Strange
Mountain
“Vann uses startling powers of
observation to create strong
characters, tense scenes and genuine
surprises.”
--Publishers Weekly
"As the title suggests, the stories in
Legend of a Suicide approach a
private mythos, revisiting,
reinvestigating and reinventing one
family's broken past. They also
transport us to wild, uncharted places
on the Alaskan coast and in the
American soul. Throughout, David
Vann is a generous, surehanded
guide in some very dangerous
territory."--Stewart O'Nan, author of
Snow Angels, Last Night at the
Lobster, Faithful
"Based on his father’s suicide 28
years ago, MJ contributor David Vann’s
debut fiction collection is as primal
and unforgiving as the Alaskan wilds
where it’s set."
--Men's Journal
“The characters in these stories are
extreme in their isolation from one
another, whether they come together
in a howling wind or in the comforts of
a warm kitchen. Here is suicide,
infidelity, madness; here are people
whose skewed optimism about the
next love affair, the next career, the next
homestead, proves deadly. . . .
Memory, affection for place, the
mangled ways we manage to express
the love we feel—David Vann is
unafraid of the weight and the
complication of these things. He is
emboldened in these stories to fall
headlong into the disorienting
wilderness of the human heart and
mind.”
--Noy Holland, Gracy Paley Prize Juror
fictional debuts in recent memory, and
David Vann is an important new voice
in American literature."--Robert Olen
Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
of A Good Scent from a Strange
Mountain
“Vann uses startling powers of
observation to create strong
characters, tense scenes and genuine
surprises.”
--Publishers Weekly
"As the title suggests, the stories in
Legend of a Suicide approach a
private mythos, revisiting,
reinvestigating and reinventing one
family's broken past. They also
transport us to wild, uncharted places
on the Alaskan coast and in the
American soul. Throughout, David
Vann is a generous, surehanded
guide in some very dangerous
territory."--Stewart O'Nan, author of
Snow Angels, Last Night at the
Lobster, Faithful
"Based on his father’s suicide 28
years ago, MJ contributor David Vann’s
debut fiction collection is as primal
and unforgiving as the Alaskan wilds
where it’s set."
--Men's Journal
“The characters in these stories are
extreme in their isolation from one
another, whether they come together
in a howling wind or in the comforts of
a warm kitchen. Here is suicide,
infidelity, madness; here are people
whose skewed optimism about the
next love affair, the next career, the next
homestead, proves deadly. . . .
Memory, affection for place, the
mangled ways we manage to express
the love we feel—David Vann is
unafraid of the weight and the
complication of these things. He is
emboldened in these stories to fall
headlong into the disorienting
wilderness of the human heart and
mind.”
--Noy Holland, Gracy Paley Prize Juror
| Read the first chapter, in the New York Times online |
| A wonderful first novel…. Absolutely unforgettable. -RTL (French Radio) A detonation...few recent novels know how to attain such an intensity. -Le Figaro Magazine A book of rare power. -Madame Figaro Moments that remind us of the Richard Ford of Rock Springs. -Livres Hebdo A beautiful text, tragic and dark. -Le Matricule des Anges A gifted American novelist. -L'Express Magnifique. -TÉLÉRAMA |
| An American classic. -The Sunday Times A truly great writer. -The Irish Sunday Independent One of the best writers of his generation. -Le Figaro His legend is at once the truest memoir and the purest fiction...Nothing quite like this book has been written before. -Alex Linklater, The Observer The great American novel we've awaited. -Le Point From the shores of Vann’s Alaska one can see the Russia of Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons… “A father, after all,” Vann writes, “is a lot for a thing to be.” A son is also a lot for a thing to be; so is an artist. With Legend of a Suicide David Vann proves himself a fine example of both. -Tom Bissell, The New York Times A masterpiece. -France Inter A new great American novelist. -France Info Brilliant . . . Vann’s prose follows the sinews of Cormac McCarthy and Hemingway, yet has its own nimble flex. -The Times Magnificent. -Telerama With "Legend of a Suicide," Vann looks into the dark and isolated heart of the American soul. It is a devastating journey that is difficult to read but impossible to put down and equally impossible to forget. -The San Francisco Chronicle A pure diamond. -Femme Actuelle An astounding novel. -Le Canard One of McCarthy's true heirs. A writer is born. -Sud Ouest The book is as dark, stormy, and beautiful as the ragged Aleutian coast. -National Geographic Adventure A piece of relentless, heartbreaking brilliance that bears comparison with Cormac McCarthy's The Road. -The Weekend Australian David Vann's extraordinary and inventive set of fictional variations on his father's death will surely become an American classic. -The Times Literary Supplement, Books of the Year 2009 |
Comparisons to pinnacles of modernism would be too large a burden for most young writers to bear, but Vann's
back may be broad enough. There is a distinct feeling when reading Legend of a Suicide that this latest star from
across the Atlantic can rise further still.'
--The Independent on Sunday
'Its UK publisher’s comparisons with the likes of Wolff and Richard Ford aren’t, for once, misplaced.'
--The Guardian
'One jaw-droppingly powerful, courageous and original fiction debut...As a 10th work of fiction this would be
impressive; as a debut, it is remarkable."
--The Sunday Telegraph
'Extraordinary...Reminiscent of Tobias Wolff, Vann’s prose is as pure as a gulp of water from an Alaskan stream.'
--The Financial Times
'A fractured, disturbing, and seriously impressive work of literature.'
--BBC World Service
'Quite possibly the finest American debut of the year.'
--The Independent
'Sukkwan Island contains not a single wrong note, and makes most other modern fiction seem anaemic and
insubstantial by comparison... It is the shape of Vann's prose which continually astonishes. This is the sort of book
which can be opened at random and devoured simply for the rhythm and stark beauty of its sentences... Vann's
vision will be too merciless for some, but Legend Of A Suicide marks the fictional debut of a truly great writer.'
--The Irish Sunday Independent
'David Vann’s fictionalized memoir of his father’s suicide, told through a series of harrowing, beautifully rendered
stories, is a modern American classic.'
--The Sunday Times
'Unputdownable'
--The London Evening Standard
'Extraordinary...Vann has written something truly memorable, disturbing and heartbreaking.'
--The Courier Mail (Australia)
'Vann has a gift for using the landscape to mirror the emotional isolation of the father and son.'
--The Sydney Morning Herald
'The son spins a lethal web of memory and imagination to achieve a darkly disturbing revenge. A deeply affecting
and spookily evocative literary debut.'
--The Sunday Canberra Times
'The keynote of this cunningly structured fictionalised memoir is its tone of raw authenticity...painful and
beautifully written.'
--The Daily Mail
'Vann’s book contains one enormous surprise so unthinkable—and yet, when you do think about it, so emotionally
fitting—that it acts like a body blow. I don’t think I’ve ever been so torn apart, so changed...there’s a streak of
reckless violence at the heart of this book which rings truer than anything else I’ve read on the subject.'
--Julie Myerson, Prospect Magazine
'For the imagery alone and for the sentences, the book would be a treasure, but the story it tells – the story of the
suicide of the author's father – has an immediacy and sharpness made all the more special by the tone of distance
in the narrative and the beauty of the writing.'
--Colm Toibin, in Best Books of the Year for The Observer
‘It is in that terse, yet heavily freighted American style of Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff and Cormac McCarthy where
small incidents and details ring with a far more resonant significance than they first appear to have … The result is
a richly dense, emotionally complex set of stories, superbly written.'
--David Mills, Esquire UK
Oh my god, Legend of a Suicide just bowled me over completely. It is such a tender, heartbreaking, breathtaking,
horrifying and insanely compelling read that when I finished it I went straight back to the beginning and round
again. I implore anyone with functioning eyes to read this book.'
--Florence Welch, lead singer of Florence and the Machine
'A sad and heartbreakingly wise story.'
--MarieClaire UK
'Perfectly crafted, heartbreaking.'
--Grazia
'Heart-rending.'
--Harper’s Bazaar
‘This is my ‘One to watch’, a literary debut set in Alaska about the effects of a father’s suicide on his son. It’s
stunning, beautifully written, with genuine surprises and a complexity which makes you retrace your steps, wonder
what really happened and ponder over the whole scenario for days. I loved it. It’s Richard Yates, Annie Proulx
territory, and highly recommended’
--Sarah Broadhurst, The Bookseller
"Headlong narrative pacing, a memorable train-wreck father who gives Richard Russo's characters a run for their
money, and a sure, sharp, inviting voice. So hard to put down that I am thinking of suing David Vann for several
hours of lost sleep"
--Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk about Kevin
"The most powerful, and pure, piece of writing I have read for a very long time. This book squeezes more life out
of the first 100 pages than most books could manage in 1000, which is pretty impressive, considering it's a book
about death"
--Ross Raisin, author of God’s Own Country, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2009
"An extraordinary piece of work. David Vann’s dark and strange book twists through natural forces and
compressed emotions towards an extraordinary and dreamlike conclusion. One of the most gripping debuts I’ve
ever read"
--Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan, winner of the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize
"In his portrayal of a young son's love for his lost father David Vann has created a stunning work of fiction:
surprising, beautiful and intensely moving"
--Nadeem Aslam, author of Maps for Lost Lovers
'David Vann's Legend of a Suicide comprises of a novella and five stories that have already brought the writer
recognition in his native America. The novella centres on another heartbreaking event: the moment when Roy,
still only a child, learns that his father put a gun to his own head and ended his life. Unsurprisingly, that
irrevocable loss dominates his life. Vann tells the story of his attempts to comprehend and to reconcile himself to
it in a sustained piece of writing that often shocks with its raw emotion and energy'
--Alex Clark, Waterstone’s Books Quarterly magazine
| Other forthcoming foreign editions of Legend of a Suicide: Italy--Bompiani Netherlands--De Bezige Bij Denmark--Gyldendalske Boghandel Norway--Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Germany--Suhrkamp Spain--Alfabi |
Winner of the Grace Paley Prize Winner of a California Book Award Winner of Le Prix des Lecteurs de L'Express Winner Le Prix des Lecteurs de la Maison du Livre de Rodez Shortlisted for the Story Prize New York Times Notable Book New York Times Editor's Choice San Francisco Chronicle Top 50 Fiction and Poetry Kansas City Star Top 10 Story Collections Juneau Empire Top 5 Alaskan Authors Times Literary Supplement Best Books of the Year Observer Best Books of the Year Guardian Books of the Decade: Your Best Books of 2009 Guardian Christmas Books Guardian 2009 The Year of the Story Australian Literary Review #1 Book of the Year Australian Best Books of the Year Sunday Business Post (Ireland) Critics' Choice Independent Culture Review of the Year Telegraph Best Books of the Year London Evening Standard Best Books of the Year New Statesman Best Books of the Year Sunday Times Best Books in Autumn Sunday Times Year Ahead in Books The Times 3 To Watch Esquire UK Gift List Harper's Bazaar Autumn's Essential Reads |
Legend of a Suicide (US and UK editions)
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