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Published Jul 2015
304 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Morning rush hour on the Golden Gate Bridge. Amidst the river of metal and glass a shocking event occurs, leaving those who witnessed it desperately looking for answers, most notably one man and his son Jake, who captured the event and uploaded it to the internet for all the world to experience. As the media swarms over the story, Jake will face the ramifications of his actions as he learns the perils of our modern disconnect between the real world and the world we create on line.
In land-locked Arizona, as the entire country learns of the event, Sara views Jake's video just before witnessing a horrible event of her own: her boyfriend's posting of their intimate sex tape. As word of the tape leaks out, making her an instant pariah, Sara needs to escape the small town's persecution of her careless action. Along with Rodney, an old boyfriend injured long ago in a freak accident that destroyed his parents' marriage, she must run faster than the internet trolls seeking to punish her for her indiscretions. Sara and Rodney will reunite with his estranged mother, Kat, now in danger from a new man in her life who may not be who he - or his online profiles - claim to be, a dangerous avatar in human form.
With a wide cast of characters and an exciting pace that mimics the speed of our modern, all-too-connected lives, All This Life examines the dangerous intersection of reality and the imaginary, where coding and technology seek to highlight and augment our already flawed human connections. Using his trademark talent for creating memorable characters, with a deep insight into language and how it can be twisted to alter reality, Joshua Mohr returns with his most contemporary and insightful novel yet.
"Starred Review. Mohr's narrative is by turns heartrending and humorous, with never a dull moment. Readers will love this cast of characters." - Publishers Weekly
"Mohr's portrayal of a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco rings true....Mohr's novel builds slowly, and his empathy for the majority of his characters shines through, allowing for a genuinely felt conclusion." - Kirkus
"Although he belabors the technology metaphors at times, Mohr delivers a solid look at the distinction between our offline and online lives and the danger that lurks when the lines between them are blurred." - Booklist
"Trouble spreads like wildfire in this compelling novel, and with brutal honesty, and empathy for his diverse cast of characters, Mohr refuses to flinch." - Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me
"Fearless, not only in its willingness to penetrate our real and virtual desperation, but also in its insistence on the tender tenacity of hope, this Tilt-a-Whirl of a novel spins along at cyber-speed to its profound and utterly human finale." - Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted
This information about All This Life 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.
Joshua Mohr is the author of the novels Termite Parade (a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection), Some Things that Meant the World to Me (one of O Magazine's Top 10 reads of 2009 and a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller), Damascus, and Fight Song, all published to much critical acclaim. Mohr teaches in the MFA program at the University of San Francisco.
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