Fall - Hardcover

McAdam, Colin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594488681 ISBN 13: 9781594488689

Publisher: Riverhead Books, 2009

Synopsis

In the tradition of A Separate Piece, a masterpiece of adolescent perspective, emotion, impulse, and relationships: the riveting story of two male roommates at a co-ed boarding school and what happens when the girlfriend of one of them goes missing during their final year.

From an internationally acclaimed, prizewinning author, whom critics have compared to Dave Eggers and Michael Ondaatje, comes a tour de force: a mesmerizing novel that is at once a spellbinding psychological thriller and a brilliant portrait of adolescence that goes deep into the heads of two very different boys.

Awkward Noel thinks he's been allowed into the inner circle of his elite boarding school when he discovers his senior-year roommate is to be handsome, athletic Julius. Julius, in turn, cares only for the fleeting joys of teenage life: sneaking out to parties, playing pranks with friends, and most of all, spending the night with his girfriend, Fall. As Noel narrates this fateful semester from a perspective of many years, interwoven is Julius's own in-the-moment experiences of first love and male camaraderie.

Always an outsider, Noel develops an unhealthy fascination with Julius, and his crush on Fall begins to border on a dangerous obsession. As Julius experiences all the pleasures of an eighteen-year-old in love, we watch as Noel self-consciously analyzes his interactions with Julius and Fall, convincing himself of a deep connection that might not exist. When Fall disappears close to winter break, Julius and Noel are forced to face their own inner desires, a confrontation that ushers the two boys out of the innocence of adolescence and into adulthood.

A tremendous literary page-turner that perfectly captures the agonies and delights of adolescence, Fall is the exhilaration and angst of teenage love and friendship- and the ultimate transience of those feelings.

About this title

About the Author

Colin McAdam is the award-winning author of Some Great Thing. He grew up in Hong Kong, Denmark, England, and Canada, was educated at McGill University and Cambridge.

From Publishers Weekly

A tense literary whodunit set in a prestigious Canadian boarding school, McAdam's second novel (after Some Great Thing) delivers suspense and cunning psychological insight. Chapters alternate between the recollections of Noel, a coldly intelligent loner, and the stream-of-consciousness of Julius, a handsome, popular athlete whose girlfriend, Fall, vanishes one day. Unstated but implicit is Fall's fate at the hands of one of the boys, but, as in many literary mysteries, the plot is secondary to the graceful prose and characterizations. The male characters are drawn with precision; Fall less so, as befits their objectification of her, though the relationship between Fall and Julius is depicted with a bittersweet charm. Julius's point of view is particularly well-done, conveying the inner turmoil of a lovestruck teenager. Noel's memories of their senior year, meanwhile, subtly reflect his emotional distance from others while suggesting a solution to the crime. The book is pleasingly paced and absorbing, and likely to appeal to fans of Arturo Perez-Reverte and Jess Walter. (June)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1594488681
• ISBN 13: 9781594488689
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368