7 Good Reasons Not To Be Good - Hardcover

Gould, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554686326 ISBN 13: 9781554686322

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010

Synopsis

Seven Good Reasons Not to Be Good opens with a cryptic postcard from forty-something Matt to his oldest friend, Zane. Zane is dying -- for "good" -- but Matt's heading home to talk him out of it. Matt's keen to make contact with his father too, before the old man disappears into the colourful world of his dementia, with its aliens and their crop-circle messages. With Matt's marriage in tatters (he's been cuckolded by the neighbourhood barista) and his career as a movie critic gone sideways, it's clearly time for this trip from Vancouver to Toronto -- so he can save his friend, wave off his dad, and maybe find something of himself he lost long ago.

In Seven Good Reasons Not to Be Good, John Gould treats mortality, morality, and modernity with equal parts empathy and wit in the manner of Jonathan Letham and Zadie Smith. His prose dazzles even as it reveals this novel's complex heart: the imperfect art of letting go.

About this title

About the Author:

John Gould is the author of two books of very short stories, most recently Kilter, which was a finalist for the Giller Prize and a Globe and Mail Best Book. His fiction has appeared in literary periodicals across the country and has been adapted for short films. He has written freelance non-fiction and has worked as an environmental researcher, tree planter, carpenter and arts administrator. He teaches in the writing department at the University of Victoria and serves on the editorial board of The Malahat Review. Visit John Gould at his website http://johngould.ca/.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1554686326
• ISBN 13: 9781554686322
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368