Description

Book Synopsis

FROM THE AUTHOR OF SPACEMAN OF BOHEMIA, SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM STARRING ADAM SANDLER AND CAREY MULLIGAN

'Ambitious, exciting . . . touches of Don DeLillo' Daily Telegraph

'A Kurt Vonnegut-like satirical touch' New York Times

'Inventive and heartfelt . . . packs a walloping punch' Esquire


Adéla, diagnosed with a terminal illness, leaves her Czech village for America to reunite with her daughter Tereza, now a scientist at a New York biotech company hellbent on curing mortality. Their reunion is short, and before Tereza can help her mother, Adéla dies and her remains disappear.

But Adéla's spirit survives, restlessly watching over Tereza as she searches for the body on a journey that spans oceans and continents, through a world ravaged by corporate greed and political extremism. Witty and prescient, A Brief History of Living Forever is a vivid story of family connection prevailing in the face of societal collapse.

Praise for SPACEMAN OF BOHEMIA:
'Funny, human and oddly down-to-earth' Guardian
'A superb debut' Literary Review
'Booming with vitality and originality' New York Times

Trade Review
Ambitious, exciting . . . Kalfar knows his way around a sentence. By turns aphoristic and lyrical, with touches of Don DeLillo, Kalfar's prose contains plenty of stylish wisdom . . . Mixing fantasy, satire, horror and metaphysics, A Brief History has many stories to tell. But the pulse animating each of them is the shock of sudden loss - of jobs, of loved ones, of a world you thought you knew -- Frank Lawton * Daily Telegraph *
Jaroslav Kalfar's A Brief History of Living Forever is a book from the future, here to deliver an urgent story about the present. Extending the speculative logics of Franz Kafka's Amerika and working in the dreamlike, psychic registers of Philip K. Dick's Ubik, Kalfar presents an entrancing, lucid, and incisive vision of immortality that starts and ends with the self-this is a brilliant, disorienting, and endlessly fascinating read -- Tom Lin, author of the Carnegie Medal winner The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
Inventive and heartfelt, this dystopian take on the immigrant experience and the American Dream packs a walloping punch * Esquire *
Ingenious . . . With a perceptive satirical slant and sharp humour, Kalfar builds a plausibly terrifying world * Publishers Weekly *
A thoroughly original story from a writer to watch * LitHub *
A dystopian romp with a tender centre . . . I didn't want it to end -- Kate Knibbs * Wired *

A Brief History of Living Forever

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    A Paperback / softback by Jaroslav Kalfar

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      Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 02/11/2023
      ISBN13: 9781529368819, 978-1529368819
      ISBN10: 1529368812

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      FROM THE AUTHOR OF SPACEMAN OF BOHEMIA, SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM STARRING ADAM SANDLER AND CAREY MULLIGAN

      'Ambitious, exciting . . . touches of Don DeLillo' Daily Telegraph

      'A Kurt Vonnegut-like satirical touch' New York Times

      'Inventive and heartfelt . . . packs a walloping punch' Esquire


      Adéla, diagnosed with a terminal illness, leaves her Czech village for America to reunite with her daughter Tereza, now a scientist at a New York biotech company hellbent on curing mortality. Their reunion is short, and before Tereza can help her mother, Adéla dies and her remains disappear.

      But Adéla's spirit survives, restlessly watching over Tereza as she searches for the body on a journey that spans oceans and continents, through a world ravaged by corporate greed and political extremism. Witty and prescient, A Brief History of Living Forever is a vivid story of family connection prevailing in the face of societal collapse.

      Praise for SPACEMAN OF BOHEMIA:
      'Funny, human and oddly down-to-earth' Guardian
      'A superb debut' Literary Review
      'Booming with vitality and originality' New York Times

      Trade Review
      Ambitious, exciting . . . Kalfar knows his way around a sentence. By turns aphoristic and lyrical, with touches of Don DeLillo, Kalfar's prose contains plenty of stylish wisdom . . . Mixing fantasy, satire, horror and metaphysics, A Brief History has many stories to tell. But the pulse animating each of them is the shock of sudden loss - of jobs, of loved ones, of a world you thought you knew -- Frank Lawton * Daily Telegraph *
      Jaroslav Kalfar's A Brief History of Living Forever is a book from the future, here to deliver an urgent story about the present. Extending the speculative logics of Franz Kafka's Amerika and working in the dreamlike, psychic registers of Philip K. Dick's Ubik, Kalfar presents an entrancing, lucid, and incisive vision of immortality that starts and ends with the self-this is a brilliant, disorienting, and endlessly fascinating read -- Tom Lin, author of the Carnegie Medal winner The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu
      Inventive and heartfelt, this dystopian take on the immigrant experience and the American Dream packs a walloping punch * Esquire *
      Ingenious . . . With a perceptive satirical slant and sharp humour, Kalfar builds a plausibly terrifying world * Publishers Weekly *
      A thoroughly original story from a writer to watch * LitHub *
      A dystopian romp with a tender centre . . . I didn't want it to end -- Kate Knibbs * Wired *

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