Friday, August 12, 2011

What is John Dalton reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: John Dalton, author of The Inverted Forest.

His entry begins:
Along with a group of very astute and fearless graduate students, I just finished reading David Mitchell’s astounding Cloud Atlas. It’s six divided novels packed into a huge, one-of-a-kind book. These sub-novels range in time period from 1850 to the distant post-apocalyptic future. Mitchell’s ambition is writ very large. And I’m tempted to complain about the disorienting challenges of Cloud Atlas… except that moment by moment, scene by scene, journal by journal, the novel, if you allow it to work its magic, is so alive and entertaining and smart. If you’re seeking a less challenging David Mitchell experience, try the wonderful ...[read on]
Among the early praise for The Inverted Forest:
"Here is a novel of immense insight and humanity by a fiercely-focused writer who can be exciting, tender and unnervingly candid all at once. Dalton’s summer camp narrative proceeds with a grand inevitability. Its resolution is subtle, joyful and deeply satisfying. It has to be my Novel of the Year."
--Jim Crace, author of Being Dead and All That Follows

"The Inverted Forest is a magnificent novel, a true literary achievement that left me awestruck and breathless. It moves with a strange, eerie sense of dread, and it's full of suspense, but what impressed me most of all was the depth of John Dalton's insight into his characters. The chorus of narrators that make up this novel are drawn with such wisdom, compassion and kindness, the pages nearly seem to glow. I loved this book."
--Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply

"A layered consideration of what happens when intentions good and bad collide… tearing suspense… intelligent insight."
--Publishers Weekly
Learn more about the book and author at John Dalton's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Inverted Forest.

My Book, The Movie: The Inverted Forest.

Writers Read: John Dalton.

--Marshal Zeringue