3.5
Book of Extraordinary Tragedies
ByPublisher Description
"Joe Meno is one of those Chicago writers floating around so long that we take his sturdiness for granted. His latest, though,
the tale of Evergreen Park musical prodigies who reunite after ages of failure and loss, is a career best, a reminder of how unusually hopeful and buoyant Meno has remained all this time. It's a charmer and a breakthrough."
"As in all his tender and edgy fiction, Meno's poetic prose is infused with sweet compassion and sharp protest as he marvels over 'the beautiful failure of all human beings struggling against their own glorious mistakes' while, somehow, finding a way forward."
Aleksandar and Isobel are siblings and former classical music prodigies, once destined for greatness. As the only Eastern European family growing up on their block on the far southside of Chicago, the pair were inseparable until each was forced to confront the absurdity of tragedy at an early age and abandon their musical ambitions.
Now in their twenties, they find themselves encountering ridiculous jobs, unfulfilling romantic relationships, and the outrageousness of ordinary life. Doomed by fate, a family history of failure, an odd mother, an absent father, and a younger brother with a peculiar fondness for catastrophes, the two siblings have all but given up.
But when an illness forces Isobel and her three-year-old daughter to move back into the family home, Aleks becomes deeply involved in the endless challenges that surround his relatives. Once Isobel begins playing cello again, Aleks comes to see a world of possibility and wonder in the lives of his extraordinarily complicated family.
Told in Aleks's exuberant voice, and full of as much comedy as tragedy, this entertaining novel asks,
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesBook of Extraordinary Tragedies Reviews
3.5
tommy
Created over 1 year agoShare
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Delani Pecchioli
Created over 1 year agoShare
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“Lovely. Like Shameless, but more Eastern European and musical.”
Littlecitycorner
Created over 1 year agoShare
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“Made it 30% but it's not for me. Maybe I'll try to read it again at another point.”
paige mylynn
Created almost 2 years agoShare
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Christie
Created almost 2 years agoShare
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About Joe Meno
Joe Meno is a fiction writer and playwright who lives in Chicago. He is a winner of the Nelson Algren Literary Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Great Lakes Book Award, and was a finalist for the Story Prize. He is the author of five novels and two short story collections including
,
,
, and
His short fiction has been published in
,
,
,
,
,
,
, and broadcast on
. His nonfiction has appeared in the
and
magazine. His stage plays have been produced in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Charville, France. He is an associate professor in the fiction writing department at Columbia College Chicago.
Other books by Joe Meno
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