In a superb collaboration, two major new talents tell the story of a generation at a crossroads, and of friendships that stretch from the liberal arena of Boston academia to the military occupation of Iraq.
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"Spirited...a captivating coming-of-age novel that is, by turns, funny and sad and elegiac."
—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Only a poet and a soldier—like these collaborating authors—are mad enough or ambitious enough to conceive of this smart, wise and wise-assed first novel. This book has sweep and heart and humor. It captures coming of age during foreign wars and domestic malaise, and it does so with electrifying insight." —Mary Karr, author of The Liars’ Club, Cherry, and Lit “As bizarre, hilarious and devastating as the past decade, War of the Encyclopaedists offers a brilliant portrait of America in the early years of the Iraq War. A startling, original accomplishment, Christopher Robinson and Gavin Kovite's novel is simultaneously a coming-of-age story, a war story, and a story of the disaffected millennial generation for whom the war hardly happened at all.” —Phil Klay, author of Redeployment, winner of the National Book Award |
On a summer night in 2004, prepping for another blowout party in the arty Seattle enclave of Capitol Hill, Mickey Montauk has just learned that he won't be joining his best friend, Halifax Corderoy, for grad school in Boston. Global events have intervened, and Mickey's National Guard unit will soon deploy to Baghdad. But before he can make this stunning revelation, events spiral out of control; in the bleary-eyed dawn, Mickey and Hal glimpse their radically altered future, the start of a year that will transform them both.
Months later, Mickey struggles to lead his platoon safely through an increasingly violent and confusing war. In Boston, Hal finds himself unable to play the game of intellectual one-upmanship with the ease of his new classmates. But even when Hal and Mickey are thousands of miles apart, two young women—driven and outspoken Tricia and capricious, bohemian Mani—link the friends in new and complex ways. As romantic complications develop, the four of them find that cool irony and youthful self-regard cannot insulate them from the damages of love and conflict and the messiness of living. As Mickey and Hal’s lives move further away from their shared dream, they keep in touch by editing a Wikipedia article about themselves: absurd and humorous updates that morph and deepen throughout the year, culminating in a document that is both devastatingly tragic and profoundly poetic.
Fast-moving and compulsively readable, War of the Encyclopaedists beats with the energetic pulse of idealistic youth on the threshold of adult reality. It is the vital, urgent, and utterly absorbing lament of a new generation searching for meaning and hope in a fractured world.
One of the best new novels of 2015. A great summer read or book club pick.
Months later, Mickey struggles to lead his platoon safely through an increasingly violent and confusing war. In Boston, Hal finds himself unable to play the game of intellectual one-upmanship with the ease of his new classmates. But even when Hal and Mickey are thousands of miles apart, two young women—driven and outspoken Tricia and capricious, bohemian Mani—link the friends in new and complex ways. As romantic complications develop, the four of them find that cool irony and youthful self-regard cannot insulate them from the damages of love and conflict and the messiness of living. As Mickey and Hal’s lives move further away from their shared dream, they keep in touch by editing a Wikipedia article about themselves: absurd and humorous updates that morph and deepen throughout the year, culminating in a document that is both devastatingly tragic and profoundly poetic.
Fast-moving and compulsively readable, War of the Encyclopaedists beats with the energetic pulse of idealistic youth on the threshold of adult reality. It is the vital, urgent, and utterly absorbing lament of a new generation searching for meaning and hope in a fractured world.
One of the best new novels of 2015. A great summer read or book club pick.
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Listen to an excerpt of the audiobook, read by the authors.
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Read excerpts from War of the Encyclopaedists
Chapter 22 available at the Wall Street Journal Chapter 28 available at LitHub |
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