Talk: A Novel in Dialogue - Softcover

Mesler, Corey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0942979869 ISBN 13: 9780942979862

Publisher: Livingston Pr, 2002

Synopsis

Corey Mesler's novel is set completely in dialogue. And to steal the thunder from one of its blurbs, you're going to be surprised at "just how sexy a novel made out of dialogue can be." (Frederick Barthelme) You're also going to be surprised at how mesmerizing such a novel can be as you fill in descriptive detail even as you read/hear the central character Jim, hip and bright owner of a metropolitan bookstore, quipping with his customers, philosophizing with his wife and artist friend, instructing and learning from his children -- and heating afternoon stew pots of audacious linguistic sexiness with his erstwhile, almost lover. In the end, all the talk amounts to much more than talk: it builds meaning. Aristotle may have defined us as "political, " "featherless, " and "bi-pedal"; Mesler defines us as TALK.

About this title

About the Author

Corey Mesler is co-owner of Burke's Book store in Memphis. A short story of his has been chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, (edited by Shannon Ravenel). He has published poetry and fiction in Yellow Silk, Thema, Mars Hill Review and others. This is his first novel.

Review

"Corey Mesler's novel-in-dialogue is a smart, funny, harrowing look at the way language at once defines us and fails to sutain us. The conversations that comprise this beguiling work are mercurial, diabolically deceptive, able to change from consolation to confinement at the turn of a phrase...TALK is a bittersweet gospel for our time."

"Corey Mesler's novel TALK is a terrific read, a real pleasure for book lovers and lovers of contemporary fiction. Written in entirely witty, sometimes dour dialogue, TALK is a marvelous look at the contemporary culure, riddled with lovely asides and its fair share of jokes, almost every one of which is as affectionate and engaging as a joke can be. And you'll be surprsied how sexy a book made out of dialogue can be."

"Corey Mesler's TALK is a brilliant tour de force of a novel, witty and wise and zingy with the zeitgeist. This is indeed an auspicious fiction debut."

Edition details

• Publisher: Livingston Pr
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0942979869
• ISBN 13: 9780942979862
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208