The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards Paperback - 2014

Details

• Title The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards
• Author Kristopher Jansma
• Binding Paperback
• Edition Reprint
• Pages 272
• Volumes 1
• Language ENG
• Publisher Penguin Books
• Date 2014-02-25
• Features Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
• ISBN 9780143125020 / 0143125028
• Weight 0.5 lbs (0.23 kg)
• Dimensions 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.9 in (21.08 x 13.72 x 2.29 cm)
• Ages 18 to UP years
• Grade levels 13 - UP
• Themes
  • Topical: Family
• Dewey Decimal Code FIC

"At times, the novel is a string of short stories; at others, it is a set of matroyshka dolls, containing, at one point, a novel within a short story wihthin a novella within a novel. ...Jansma approaches them with wry humor and a steady hand. The narrator's games never fail to entertain, even if he is constantly changing the rules."
--The New Yorker

“[A] tricky picaresque thick with literary allusion from Fitzgerald to Amis…[A] clever, tightly paced novel of ever-upping stakes.” 
—Vogue.com

"Playfully weird...I'd call this book "postmodern," but that makes it sound like it's not as pleasurable to read as it is."—Meg Wolitzer, author of the New York Times bestselling The Interestings on NPR.com

“Though one might recognize bits of Dickens, Fitzgerald or Hemingway, this is simply a good case of stealing from geniuses. It’s a breathless work the celebrates the literary tradition, while making a strong case that its author belongs on the shelf beside his forebears.”
—Time Out New York (5 Stars)

“Couched in Jansma’s wildly recursive funhouse of a novel is a coming-of-age story…filled with clever literary allusions and insider jokes…[T]here’s plenty to relish in this noteworthy debut.”
—Heller McAlpin for NPR.org

“F. Scott Fitzgerald meets Wes Anderson…[T]he novel strikes a cord on questions of authenticity, love, and ambition, and it reminds us that life is often out of our control, even if we’re writing it down.”
—The Village Voice

“One of the best books of the year.”
—Jeff Glor for CBS Author Talk

“[Jansma is] a writer of extreme promise, who seems to belong to an older generation.”
—Electric Literature “Recommended Reading”

“[A] slippery and energetic debut novel…rapid in pace, the language and details tightly controlled…It’s tremendous fun, this book.”
—San Francisco Journal of Books

“[T]his mind-blowing spiral of a book will also appeal to anyone who enjoys their fiction as playful as it is intriguing.”
—Book Reporter

“The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards’ intricate narrative game and its carbon-burning escapades add up to a novel that is wise about identity and aspiration, competitive storytelling, romantic obsession and the assertion that ‘all these stories are true, only somewhere else.’”
—Shelf Awareness

“Captivating…[A] smart, searching debut about art and identity.”
—Library Journal

“[A] canny, seductive, and utterly transfixing tale about the magic of storytelling
and the misery of writing…Like a magician pulling a seemingly endless string of colorful scarves from a hat, Jansma streams stories-within-stories-within-stories, each a diabolically clever homage… Readers will detect riffs on Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Truman Capote, Bob Dylan, Tolstoy, Salinger, Borges, Kipling, and many more…A first novel with the strength and agility of a great cat leaping through rings of fire.”
—Booklist (Starred)