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Narrated by A. S. King
A. S. KingUnabridged
Narrated by A. S. King
A. S. KingUnabridged
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In this fearlessly inventive novel, King creates a sharp, surrealist world out of the challenges of teenage life, from the darkest (school shootings) to the mundane (standardized tests)…King's devotion to a passionately experimental style, in a genre often beholden to formula, is inspiring. Kurt Vonnegut might have written a book like this, if he had ever been cyber-bullied on Facebook.
★ 06/15/2015
If a story about two teens escaping from testing week in an invisible helicopter at the direction of a naked sculptor who hides in a bush sounds like something spun from a bad acid trip, this may not be the novel for you. But those who already feel that high school is an absurdist farce designed to make everyone crack under the pressure of AP exams, bomb threats, intruder drills, and peer judgment will easily relate to King’s (Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future) latest. Obsessed with biology, Stanzi is in love with Gustav, constructor of the invisible helicopter. Her best friend China’s response to personal trauma has been to swallow herself: “I just opened my mouth one day and wrapped it around my ears and the rest of me.” Lansdale is a pathological liar whose hair grows by feet every time she tells another whopper. All the novel’s action can be read as metaphor for modern ills. These are teens crying for help with no one, least of all their parents, listening. It’s bizarre, compelling, and not like anything else. Ages 15–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Sept.)
I Crawl through It proves that A. S. King is one of the most innovative and talented novelists of our time. This is King’s masterpiece—a brilliant, paranoid, poetic, funny, and at times overwhelmingly sad literary cocktail of absinthe and Adderall. What a trip!”
The author reads in a deadpan tone as she depicts the…striking imagery.”
Masterfully written and brilliantly bizarre, this is King at her most innovative yet.”
Presents the shattered perspective, the moment when young minds unspool like line from a broken fishing reel. Piecing it back together isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s worthwhile, and keen YA readers will enjoy deciphering King’s puzzles.”
King’s novel blends the magical and the mundane in a deadpan delivery that makes it difficult to tell one from the other. This, of course, is the point of her ambitious and affecting work.”
In this fearlessly inventive novel, King creates a sharp, surrealist world out of the challenges of teenage life, from the darkest (school shootings) to the mundane (standardized tests)…Kurt Vonnegut might have written a book like this, if he had ever been cyber-bullied on Facebook.”
Beautiful prose, poetry, and surreal imagery combine for an utterly original story that urges readers to question, love, and believe—or risk explosion.”
*"Masterfully written and brilliantly bizarre, this is King at her most innovative yet.
*"Beautiful prose, poetry, and surreal imagery combine for an utterly original story that urges readers to question, love, and believe—or risk explosion.
*"King's novel blends the magical and the mundane in a deadpan delivery that makes it difficult to tell one from the other. This, of course, is the point of her ambitious and affecting work.
Praise for I Crawl Through It:
A Booklist Editor's Choice Book of 2015
A Booklist Top 50 YA Audiobook Novels of All Time
"I Crawl Through It proves that A.S. King is one of the most innovative and talented novelists of our time. This is King's masterpiece—a brilliant, paranoid, poetic, funny, and at times overwhelmingly sad literary cocktail of absinthe and Adderall. What a trip!"—Andrew Smith, acclaimed author of Winger and Grasshopper Jungle
* "At once a statement on the culture of modern schools as well as mental health issues, this novel is an ambitious, haunting work of art." —School Library Journal, starred review
*"Masterfully written and brilliantly bizarre, this is King at her most innovative yet." —VOYA, starred review
*"Beautiful prose, poetry, and surreal imagery combine for an utterly original story that urges readers to question, love, and believe—or risk explosion." —Booklist, starred review
*"King's novel blends the magical and the mundane in a deadpan delivery that makes it difficult to tell one from the other. This, of course, is the point of her ambitious and affecting work." —The Horn Book, starred review
*"It's bizarre, compelling, and not like anything else." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A meditation on grief, guilt, and survival.... Readers [will be] rewarded with the self-actualization of finely wrought characters.... Absolutely worthwhile." —Kirkus Reviews
12/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—A relaxed view of reality is required from the opening words of big-boned Stanzi, in her always-present lab coat. Stanzi gets alphabet letters in exchange for kisses from the naked bush man outside of school. Gustav, her neighbor, is building a helicopter that is invisible to nearly everyone. Stanzi's friend China has swallowed herself and now displays her internal organs on the outside. Her friend Lansdale lies about pretty much everything. Stir together with pervasive school bomb threats, the pressure of standardized testing, references to Hawkeye Pierce and M*A*S*H, and the gradual peeling back of layers hiding the facts of tragic events. Some listeners will be fascinated, and others will likely be scratching their heads in confusion. Eventually, the four teens each crawl through toward recovery. King narrates the story with excellent rhythm and the right balance of disturbed participant and unsentimental storyteller. VERDICT Consider for large collections. The murky story line and flexible reality will appeal to a niche audience. Suggest to fans of Andrew Smith's The Alex Crow (Dutton, 2015) and King's earlier books, particularly Everybody Sees the Ants (Little, Brown, 2012). ["At once a statement on the culture of modern schools as well as mental health issues, this novel is an ambitious, haunting work of art": SLJ 7/15 starred review of the Little, Brown book.]—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX
★ 07/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—One character is building a helicopter that happens to be invisible. Another has turned herself into a walking digestive tract. The others are wrapped up in hair that grows with lies and a lab coat that can't be removed. Under the weight of their personal lives and the constant pressure of testing and bomb threats, four high school students crawl through a world that seems to threaten them at every turn. King has crafted a universe within these pages full of surrealist characters and twists—inside-out humans and escapes to locations that may or may not be real. She achieves a fine, delicate balance through her gutting prose and ensemble cast of hurt-filled characters. The broken feeling of the protagonists carries through the length of the book, yet the ending still concludes with a tone of redemption. At once a statement on the culture of modern schools as well as mental health issues, this novel is an ambitious, haunting work of art. VERDICT Give it to students who are ready for a darker version of Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me (Random, 2009).—Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Prep, Jersey City, NJ
A surrealistic novel dramatizes four bright teens who can barely make their way in an increasingly senseless world. The author reads in a deadpan tone as she depicts the “slings and arrows” coming at them from all fronts. Stanzi suffers from absentee parents—except during family vacations, when they visit the sites of school shootings. Gustav copes by building an invisible helicopter, and China has “swallowed herself” after a terrible experience with a boy. The fourth character’s hair grows when she lies. Even their high school, with its continual bomb threats, seems to be under siege. King’s striking imagery is haunting, but, overall, her morose monotone doesn’t help listeners distinguish the quirky characters, imagine the strange situations and settings, or understand the intricate, sometimes puzzling plot. S.W. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
2015-06-23
A meditation on grief, guilt, and survival; King's most challenging work to date.Stanzi and her friends are damaged high school seniors in Pennsylvania, struggling to forge connections with one another and the often hostile world beyond. Gustav is building an invisible helicopter in his backyard. China's mother is "the neighborhood dominatrix." And Lansdale is a compulsive liar. School life is grim, dominated by safety drills, standardized tests, and an erratically high volume of bomb threats. Amid the disruption, there is also a naked man living in a bush who, in a series of surreal exchanges, sets each of the teens in motion. The intricately constructed narrative is deeply disorienting, not only because the narrators are all openly unreliable, but because the events they describe occupy a gray area bounded by personality quirks, mental illness, and magical realism. Coupled with repeated references to such real-life events as the Newtown and Columbine shootings, as well as the fictional violence inflicted on the main characters, the novel is, at times, a grueling march through a gallery of traumas. But as with Please Ignore Vera Dietz (2010), King's choices are neither gratuitous nor exploitative; when crucial details start falling into place around the halfway point, readers who hang in that far are rewarded with the self-actualization of finely wrought characters. Heavy stuff, as the title implies, and absolutely worthwhile. (Fiction. 14 & up)
| BN ID: | 2940160400143 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 10/08/2024 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
