Readers' rating:
Published Nov 2012
282 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Charlie is a journeyman whose friend Nick convinces him to move to Singapore, where he falls in love with the vibrant and endangered world of nearby Borneo. One night, during a fight at a cocktail party in Singapore, Nick dies mysteriously, prompting Charlie to return to New England where he discovers that a former student has moved in with his father, Max, a former professor and source of unlimited sage expressions. Seana is a wildly successful and provocative writer who is equally wild and provocative in life. Together, she and Charlie set out on a road trip of resolution where "weird things happen if you make room for them."
From the lush forests of Borneo to coastal Maine, The Other Side of the World is a grand, episodic novel and another virtuosic performance by one of America's most revered living writers.
"Starred Review. Neugeboren presents a meditation on life, love, art and family relationships that's reminiscent of the best of John Updike." - Kirkus Reviews
This information about The Other Side of the World was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jay Neugeboren is the author, most recently, of the novel 1940, and collection You Are My Heart and Other Stories. His previous novels have received the American Jewish Committee Award and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award. His stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Tikkun, GQ, Newsweek, The New York Times, and The New York Review of Books. He was the writer-in-residence for many years at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and currently lives in New York City.
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