The View from the Seventh Layer

Brockmeier, Kevin

ISBN 10: 0375425306 / ISBN 13: 9780375425301

Published by Pantheon Books, U.S.A., 2008

About this Item

New York: Pantheon, 2008. First Edition, First Printing. SIGNED by the author on the Title Page. Hardcover is in very good condition (minor bumping on the spine, front cover has a small, round mark -- possibly ink and the last page, Acknowledgment Page is crinkled on the edges and a red remainder mark on the bottom of the the text block). Dust jacket is in near-fine condition (inside flap of back cover has been bent at the bottom corner). Brodart protected. 267 pages. Seller Inventory # 4197

Bibliographic Details

Title: The View from the Seventh Layer

Publisher: Pantheon Books, U.S.A.

Publication Date: 2008

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Kevin Brockmeier--award -winning author of The Brief History of the Dead--has been widely praised for the richness of his imagination, the lyrical grace and playfulness of his language, and the empathic emotional complexity of his storytelling. And this dazzling collection once again affirms his place as one of the most creative and compassionate writers of his generation.

In the haunting title story, a young, asocial woman remembers the oddly honest things she wrote in her high school classmates' yearbooks and contemplates her scarred life, imagining an escape with an apparition she calls the Entity. In "Father John Melby and the Ghost of Amy Elizabeth," a formerly dull and turgid pastor is touched by a spirit that turns his sermons into crowd-pleasers--that is, until he discovers his inspiration is a little less than divine. "The Human Soul as a Rube Goldberg Device" is a gorgeous homage to the classic, young readers' choose-your-own-adventure novels. But this one is for grown-ups who can navigate through imagery and dead ends, and toward a resolution that only Kevin Brockmeier could have invented. From the fantastical to the concrete, the range of this collection is breathtaking. It moves fluidly, finding beauty in the quiet, often overlooked corners of the world.

By turns daring and moving, The View from the Seventh Layer is crafted with the remarkable voice and vision that have become hallmarks of Brockmeier's acclaimed fiction.

About the Author:

Kevin Brockmeier is the author of The Brief History of the Dead, The Truth About Celia, Things That Fall from the Sky, and two children's novels. He has taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His stories have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker, McSweeney's and Oxford American, and have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, and Granta's Best of Young American Novelists. He lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.