A Book of Reasons
by VERNON, JOHN
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
DUNEDIN, Auckland, New Zealand
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Houghton Mifflin 1999. Super octavo hardcover (VG+) in d/w (VG+); all our specials have minimal description to keep listing them viable. They are at least reading copies, complete and in reasonable condition, but usually secondhand; frequently they are superior examples. Ordering more than one book will reduce your overall postage costs
Synopsis
In this "heartwarming tale of brotherly love" (WALL STREET JOURNAL), John Vernon "lifts us high, confronting basic questions about the nature of existence itself and the peculiar objects that sustain this transient life" (Jay Parini). When his reclusive brother Paul died, Vernon came face to face with a life he had never suspected. He found his brother's house in a state of squalid disrepair: piled high with a lifetime of trash, littered with animal corpses and excrement, unheated and decrepit. An assembly worker in the electronics industry and an amateur inventor, Paul had managed to keep his private world hidden from his family and acquaintances. The love between brothers is an unconditional love -- unearned, and realized almost always from a distance. Who really was this man that writer and teacher John Vernon loved? How could a childhood so full of promise turn wrong? Why do we collect things; what use do they have? How do we make and understand our world? In search of answers, this "superb writer" (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE) leaps from one odd, individual life to all our lives and the things that clutter them, with excursions through the history of science, anatomy, and mythology. The result is revelatory, a brilliant account of the extraordinary source of everyday things. "An artful lamentation of two remarkable worlds" (VILLAGE VOICE), A BOOK OF REASONS is John Vernon's devastatingly tender memoir about coming to terms with the fact that the people we love most are often the people we know the least about. It is also a daring exploration of loss and self-discovery.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Hard To Find Books
(NZ)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 288529
- Title
- A Book of Reasons
- Author
- VERNON, JOHN
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Houghton Mifflin 1999
- Keywords
- memoir brother family biography loss
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Hard To Find Books
Biblio member since 2004
DUNEDIN, Auckland
About Hard To Find Books
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
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