We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Author(s): Karen Joy Fowler
"A gripping, bighearted book." --Khaled Hosseini Winner of the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award One of the "New York Times Book Review's "100 Notable Books of 2013 and named by "The Christian Science Monitor "as one of the top 15 works of fiction The "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Jane Austen Book Club" introduces a middle-class American family, ordinary in every way but one. Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. "I was raised with a chimpanzee," she explains. "I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren't thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern's expulsion ... she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister." As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence. In "We Are All Completely beside Ourselves, " Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date--a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.
General Information
- :
- : Plume Books
- : Plume Books
- : 0.227
- : 25 February 2014
- : United States
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Karen Joy Fowler
- : Paperback / softback
- : 310
More About The Product
Praise for WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES "A novel so readably juicy and surreptitiously smart, it deserves all the attention it can get . . . [Its] fresh diction and madcap plot bend the tone toward comedy, but it never mislays its solemn "raison d'etre." Monkeyshines aside, this is a story of Everyfamily in which loss engraves relationships, truth is a soulful stalker and coming-of-age means facing down the mirror, recognizing the shape-shifting notion of self."--Barbara Kingsolver, "The New York Times Book Review" "Fowler's interests here are in what sets humans apart from their fellow primates. Cognitive, language and memory skills all come into playful question. But the heart of the novel -- and it has a big, warm, loudly beating heart throughout -- is in its gradually pieced-together tale of family togetherness, disruption and reconciliation. "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves" is Fowler at her best, mixing cerebral and emotional appeal together in an utterly captivating manner."--"The Seattle Times" "Rosemary's voice is achingly memorable, and Fowler's intelligent discourse on science vs. compassion reshapes the traditional family novel into something more universally relevant. The Cookes are unlike other families and like them at the same time, and through Rosemary's unique perspective Fowler forces us to confront some tough truths. This brave, bold, shattering novel reminds us what it means to be human, in the best and worst sense."--"The Miami Herald" "Rosemary's voice--vulnerable, angry, shockingly honest--is so compelling and the cast of characters, including Fern, irresistible. A fantastic novel: technically and intellectually complex, while emotionally gripping."--"Kirkus" (starred review) "Piquant humor, refulgent language, a canny plot rooted in real-life experiences, an irresistible narrator, threshing insights, and tender emotions--Fowler has outdone herself in this deeply inquisitive, cage-r
Karen Joy Fowler is the award-winning author of four story collections and five previous novels. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.
