{"product_id":"the-swan-a-novel-paperback-softback-9780253223432","title":"The Swan; A Novel (Paperback \/ softback) 9780253223432","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Novel\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eJim Cohee (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780253223432\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 19 August 2011\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e136 pages\u003cbr\u003e17.8 x 12.7 x 1.5 cm, 0.136 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"It's all there: eloquence, comedy, a childhood effectively captured, seriousness, an eccentric intelligence.\u003ci\u003e The Swan\u003c\/i\u003e delights.\"—William O'Rourke, author of \u003ci\u003eOn Having a Heart Attack: A Medical Memoir\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"The brilliant stutter-stepping and jump-cutting expertly mimic the mind of a ten-year-old, and the basic irony is stunning—that a verbally pyrotechnic book should be uttered by a mute boy.\"—Michael Martone, editor of\u003ci\u003e Not Normal, Illinois: Peculiar Fictions from the Flyover\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Nothing short of dazzling.\"—Linda Niemann, author of \u003ci\u003eRailroad Noir\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Lively, entertaining, funny, and often moving.\"—Scott Russell Sanders, author of \u003ci\u003eA Conservationist Manifesto\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e is a story of childhood and a family's tenuous hold on everything that once seemed solid to them. Jim Cohee's lyrical and expertly crafted prose weaves a tale that is enchanting, hilarious, heartbreaking, and uplifting. A young boy's fantasies and his resistance to the circumstances of his family weaves this story of loss and the transcendence of the human spirit. It reminds us how noble and resilient we can be.\"—Lee Martin, Author of \u003ci\u003eThe Bright Forever and River of Heaven\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Gorgeous and surprising.\"—Susan Neville, author of \u003ci\u003eSailing the Inland Sea\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Alternately funny, entertaining, and heartbreaking, \u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e is a fictional memoir about love, death and what a family can—and cannot—endure.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"A surreal study of a grief observed indirectly, \u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e serves as a testament to the unbridled power of childhood vision, even and especially in the wake of tragedy.\"—\u003ci\u003eBloom Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"This is the principle pleasure of reading \u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e: Cohee delights in word play and humor that points to larger thematic concerns regarding the family's rift in the wake of a child's death.\"—\u003ci\u003eandrewsbookclub.com\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"There's something ironic, compelling, and deeply sad about hearing a story of mortality and unspeakable loss unfold in the chirpy, attention-deficit, occasionally hilarious voice of a fourth-grader. . . . The voice isn't a gimmick —it's the point of the book, and it works brilliantly.\"—\u003ci\u003ewww.eastbayexpress.com\u003c\/i\u003e, 9\/14\/2011\u003cbr\u003e \"Funny, poignant and as endearing as its central character, \u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e is a wholly original tribute to childhood resilience.\"—\u003ci\u003eSan Jose Mercury News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Had Kurt Vonnegut, William Saroyan, J.D. Salinger, Carlos Castaneda, Raymond Carver and James Thurber ever gathered at a writer's workshop to co-author a short novel, the product might well have been \u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e.\"—\u003ci\u003eTerre Haute Tribune Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"The secret protectors and spymasters who populate Aaron's disintegrating world in Cohee's\u003ci\u003e The Swan \u003c\/i\u003eare equally funny and heartbreaking. I've already reread this outstanding first novel.\"—\u003ci\u003eWapsipinicon Almanac\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTen-year-old Aaron Cooper has witnessed the death of his younger sister, Pookie, and the trauma has left him unwilling to speak. Aaron copes with life's challenges by disappearing into his own imagination, envisioning being captain of the \u003ci\u003eKon Tiki\u003c\/i\u003e, driving his sled in the snowy Klondike, and tiger hunting in India. He is guarded by secret friends like deposed Hungarian Count Blurtz Shemshoian and Blurtz's wonder dog, Nipper, who protect him from the creature from the Black Lagoon—who hides in Aaron's closet at night. The tales he constructs for himself, the real life stories he is witness to, and his mother's desperate efforts to bring her son back from the brink, all come to a head at an emotional family dinner. Set in Indianapolis in 1957, \u003ci\u003eThe Swan\u003c\/i\u003e is a fictional memoir about enduring love and the weighty nature of mortality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Indiana University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52526020428056,"sku":"9780253223432","price":11.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-swan-a-novel-paperback-softback-9780253223432","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}