{"product_id":"xstabeth-9781474617062","title":"Xstabeth","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eINCLUDES ''PREQUEL'' THE TOWER THE FIELDS THE TRANSMITTERS\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''This book spoke, it said read me from the very first sentence as if it were alive, it gave me visceral joy'' Kim Gordon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Reading [\u003ci\u003eXstabeth\u003c\/i\u003e] feels like being cut open to the accompanying sound of ecstatic music'' Edna O''Brien\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Prepare for more of that inimitable Keenan narrative voodoo brilliance'' Wendy Erskine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn St Petersburg, Russia, Aneliya is torn between the love of her father and her father''s best friend. Her father dreams of becoming a great musician but suffers with a naivete that means he will never be taken seriously. Her father''s best friend has a penchant for vodka, strip clubs and moral philosophy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen an angelic presence named Xstabeth enters their lives - a presence who simultaneously fulfils and disappears those she touches - Aneliya and her father''s world is transformed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoving from Russia to St Andrews, Scotland, \u003ci\u003eXsta\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePrepare for more of that inimitable Keenan narrative voodoo brilliance.\u003c\/b\u003e In \u003ci\u003eXstabeth \u003c\/i\u003eit'll give you a special and magickal alchemy of metaphysics, singer-songwriters and golf, angelic entities, memory and grace. What a thrill to take this remarkable trip to St Andrews and Russia, in the arms of music and synchronicity -- Wendy Erskine\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eI sometimes think David Keenan dreams aloud\u003c\/b\u003e. His prose has \u003cb\u003ethe effortless, enigmatic , unsettling quality of dream\u003c\/b\u003e. In \u003ci\u003eXstabeth\u003c\/i\u003e, as with \u003ci\u003eFor the Good Times\u003c\/i\u003e, the narrative shuttles between episodes of nearness and chasm ... \u003cb\u003eReading it feels like being cut open to the accompanying sound of ecstatic music\u003c\/b\u003e -- Edna O'Brien\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book spoke, it said \"read me\"\u003c\/b\u003e from the very first sentence as if it were alive, \u003cb\u003eit gave me visceral joy\u003c\/b\u003e and a constant feeling of being unhinged so I had to keep up with it -- Kim Gordon\u003cbr\u003eA delicious, dark and haunting book, from the first page I couldn't let it go and I know\u003cb\u003e Xstabeth will stay with me for ever.\u003c\/b\u003e The book contains magic and intrigue. It is \u003cb\u003ea 21st century cult classic\u003c\/b\u003e -- Salena Godden\u003cbr\u003eInspiring and brilliant -- Kavus Torabi\u003cbr\u003eXSTABETH is special. A ghostly shimmer of a novel -- Kevin Williamson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYou can lose yourself in the novel's weird loops and whorls, searching for resolution while luxuriating in the lack of it\u003c\/b\u003e . . . This is Keenan's most gnomic, gnostic work yet - at times it seems only loosely tethered to reality - yet it's never portentous. There's something here of the 19th-century Russian novelists' passion for authenticity, their fervid drama. There are funny lines, too, which undercut the mysticism in a satisfyingly earthy way . . . \u003cb\u003ethe sense of a synchronous world being created even as you read, where past visions spark memories that echo the present, leaping across synaptic gaps with the grace of a bird in flight\u003c\/b\u003e -- Carrie O'Grady * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAs close to a song as any prose work I've read\u003c\/b\u003e. And Keenan is gloriously, unfashionably mystical in his approach -- Peter Murphy * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eIt is one of the most interesting novels I've come across this year. \u003cb\u003eReading it, I felt the unmistakable pulse of something living, and it isn't done with me yet\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Phipps * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eIn a record shop in St Andrews, Aneliya and her father come across a Russian pressing of the Xstabeth record. The man behind the counter puts it on. \"Pure loner folk,\" he says admiringly. \u003cb\u003e\"A genre of one\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003cb\u003e\" The same might be said of this gloriously \u003ci\u003esui generis\u003c\/i\u003e novel\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jonathan Derbyshire * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe prose has a mesmeric quality\u003c\/b\u003e... Xstabeth reprises the manic idealism of This is Memorial Device (2017), Keenan's exuberant debut novel about the post-punk scene in 1980s Airdrie. Tomasz, a disciple of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake, cuts a brooding but sympathetic figure -- Houman Barekat * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eOne of the most exciting new writers around. * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe pleasures of Xstabeth lie in the ways in which the inventive Keenan plays with language and form\u003c\/b\u003e -- Sarah Hughes * The i *\u003cbr\u003eTautly edited, the sheer stylistic euphoria of Keenan's form seems to breathe itself to life . . . XSTABETH is a psychedelic circle from darness into light * Irish Times *\u003cbr\u003eIt is one of the most interesting novels I have come across this year. Reading it, I felt the unmistakable pulse of something living, and it isn't done with me yet -- John Phipps * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eThough \u003cb\u003epossessed of a driving intensity and an abundance of ideas\u003c\/b\u003e, his prose never feels didactic or dry. It's an invitation to share in what he feels - \u003cb\u003eas raw, warm, bloody and poignant as it is intellectually engaged\u003c\/b\u003e -- Hannah McGill * Scotsman *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBuzzing with energy and manic idealism, Xstabeth is a wild ride that shatters expectation\u003c\/b\u003e * Dazed *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eKeenan's hot streak continues \u003c\/b\u003ewith this bold effort that travels between St. Andrews and Russia, taking in on the metaphysics of golf and the power of art and music * List *\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48739613901143,"sku":"9781474617062","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781474617062.jpg?v=1720052739","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/xstabeth-9781474617062","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}