About the book, from the author's website:
An inventive and dazzling debut novel -- at once a mystery of identity, sly literary satire and coming of age story -- capturing a young man's impossible and heroic first love. Macgregor West, orphaned as a boy, is on quest to understand the mystery surrounding his mother’s untimely death. On a foggy San Francisco evening, guided by a stack of old envelopes, Mac finds himself at the mansion of cultural icon Charles Ware and encounters the writer’s beautiful and enigmatic daughter, Carolyn. Soon Mac is seduced into the world of the eccentric Ware family and a love affair with a woman whose murky history may be closely linked to his own.Among the early praise for MacGregor Tells the World:
MacGregor Tells the World is a poignant and hilarious ride through present day San Francisco, a city brimming with memorable characters who help Mac discover just what story is his to tell.
"Elizabeth McKenzie's wonderful, winning and sympathetic novel frees you by enchanting you. Her hero, MacGregor West, glides around San Francisco, dappled in the liberal summer light of first love, wolfing tacos, suffering truths. When MacGregor begs his girlfriend not to freak out but to freak in -- to stick by him and his dizzy, determined way of reckoning with the world, make sure you take his dare. You'll want to buy a drink for this kid and for the first-rate author who gave him to us."Elizabeth McKenzie's writing has appeared in The New York Times, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Pushcart Prize XXV, Other Voices, Threepenny Review, TriQuarterly, and ZYZZYVA. Her stories have been performed at Symphony Space in New York and Stories on Stage in Chicago, and recorded for NPR's "Selected Shorts." She is a former staff editor at The Atlantic Monthly.
--David Schickler, author of Kissing in Manhattan and Sweet and Vicious
"Reading MacGregor Tells the World was like being kidnapped and carried off. I found myself peering into cryptic yet fully rendered lives and eavesdropping on delicious conversations ... and completely unable, unwilling to tear myself away. Elizabeth McKenzie's writing spirited me away to a stunning denouement on a carefully crafted tide of wit and words that can only be described as irresistible."
--Alfredo Vea, author of La Maravilla and Gods Go Begging
McKenzie's acclaimed first book is Stop That Girl, "a series of chronological stories that, taken together, uncover the life story of Ann Ransom, a native Californian who moves from childhood to adulthood with poise, intelligence, and humor. The state of California itself serves as an important supporting character, helping to keep Ann rooted in time and space as she moves through each chapter of her life."Visit Elizabeth McKenzie's website and read an excerpt from MacGregor Tells the World.
The Page 69 Test: MacGregor Tells the World.
--Marshal Zeringue
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