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9780820367361

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Reviews

"A compulsive descent into darkness, a fearless portrait of the invincibility of our fragile hearts. Nicorvo leaves it all on the page. A bravura performance.--Junot D�az ""Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"" This book set my heart and mind on fire. Nicorvo is a magician: he has taken tragedy and transformed it into art.--Sa�d Sayrafiezadeh ""author of When Skateboards Will Be Free"" Painfully elegant yet triumphant, Nicorvo's thoughtful writing explores society and the effects on individuals and families as he faces appalling events in his past. Nicorvo and his demons circle each other warily, sizing each other up like big cats competing for territory, the demon cats doing their best to disrupt Nicorvo's peace of mind, and scare off the writer intent on facing and analyzing these demons out of existence. It's an honor to be allowed to perch on his shoulder and accompany him through this journey he so gracefully relates.--Jamie Fiocco, owner, Flyleaf Books; recent president of the American Booksellers Association An unflappable, unrelenting examination of abuse and violence, Best Copy Available holds nothing back. Nicorvo is fearless as he confronts the past and fearless as he steps into his future.--Ann Hood ""New York Times bestselling author of Comfort: A Journey Through Grief"" I have read so many accounts of assault and abuse, and I've never read a book like this. This is a tenacious telling. There was not a single sentence I'd read before--Best Copy Available is new in its lack of anticipation, in its headlong pursuit of the experience of bringing a boy into being inside the man who is finally telling the abuse. This book is such a valuable addition, and it's patronizing to say how proud I am that Nicorvo got this down, that he wrote the damn book, so I won't say that. But he went back for the boy, and he took him by the hand. Best Copy Available breaks my heart. Such life.--Lacy Crawford ""author of Notes on a Silencing"" The (true) story unfolding in Best Copy Available is almost unrelentingly bleak, but that relentlessness also makes it difficult to put down. The voice is jagged, dangerous, compelling, and, above all, appropriate.--Geoff Dyer ""author of The Last Days of Roger Federer"" You do not have to be a child of the '80s to deeply feel and understand each piece of Jay Nicorvo's story and the glowing truth that beats throughout Best Copy Available. Is it possible to be sorry, and angry, and sick, and haunted by a book? Because simple, lucid touchstones are absolutely essential to jarring loose the terror and also prying open any story itself--if any (one) of us is to have a chance at grace. I somehow placed my feet onto the floor upon closing this book's final page and felt--quite literally--as if I might fall much deeper than to my knees in holy gratitude for the chance and purpose of being alive on this earth. What a work.--Joanna Parzakonis, co-owner, this is a bookstore & Bookbug"

"The (true) story unfolding in Best Copy Available is almost unrelentingly bleak, but that relentlessness also makes it difficult to put down. The voice is jagged, dangerous, compelling, and, above all, appropriate. - Geoff Dyer (author of The Last Days of Roger Federer) An unflappable, unrelenting examination of abuse and violence, Best Copy Available holds nothing back. Nicorvo is fearless as he confronts the past and fearless as he steps into his future. - Ann Hood New York Times bestselling author of Comfort: A Journey Through Grief ""A compulsive descent into darkness, a fearless portrait of the invincibility of our fragile hearts. Nicorvo leaves it all on the page. A bravura performance. - Junot Díaz Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ""This book set my heart and mind on fire. Nicorvo is a magician: he has taken tragedy and transformed it into art. - Saïd Sayrafiezadeh author of When Skateboards Will Be Free ""I have read so many accounts of assault and abuse, and I’ve never read a book like this. This is a tenacious telling. There was not a single sentence I’d read before—Best Copy Available is new in its lack of anticipation, in its headlong pursuit of the experience of bringing a boy into being inside the man who is finally telling the abuse. This book is such a valuable addition, and it’s patronizing to say how proud I am that Nicorvo got this down, that he wrote the damn book, so I won’t say that. But he went back for the boy, and he took him by the hand. Best Copy Available breaks my heart. Such life. - Lacy Crawford author of Notes on a Silencing ""You do not have to be a child of the ‘80s to deeply feel and understand each piece of Jay Nicorvo's story and the glowing truth that beats throughout Best Copy Available. Is it possible to be sorry, and angry, and sick, and haunted by a book? Because simple, lucid touchstones are absolutely essential to jarring loose the terror and also prying open any story itself—if any (one) of us is to have a chance at grace. I somehow placed my feet onto the floor upon closing this book's final page and felt—quite literally—as if I might fall much deeper than to my knees in holy gratitude for the chance and purpose of being alive on this earth. What a work. - Joanna Parzakonis, co-owner, this is a bookstore & Bookbug ""Painfully elegant yet triumphant, Nicorvo’s thoughtful writing explores society and the effects on individuals and families as he faces appalling events in his past. Nicorvo and his demons circle each other warily, sizing each other up like big cats competing for territory, the demon cats doing their best to disrupt Nicorvo’s peace of mind, and scare off the writer intent on facing and analyzing these demons out of existence. It’s an honor to be allowed to perch on his shoulder and accompany him through this journey he so gracefully relates. - Jamie Fiocco, owner, Flyleaf Books; recent president of the American Booksellers Association"

"A compulsive descent into darkness, a fearless portrait of the invincibility of our fragile hearts. Jay Nicorvo leaves it all on the page. A bravura performance.--Junot D�az ""Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"" Painfully elegant yet triumphant, Nicorvo's thoughtful writing explores society and the effects on individuals and families as he faces appalling events in his past. Nicorvo and his demons circle each other warily, sizing each other up like big cats competing for territory, the demon cats doing their best to disrupt Nicorvo's peace of mind, and scare off the writer intent on facing and analyzing these demons out of existence. It's an honor to be allowed to perch on his shoulder and accompany him through this journey he so gracefully relates.--Jamie Fiocco, owner, Flyleaf Books; recent president of the American Booksellers Association This book set my heart and mind on fire. Nicorvo is a magician: he has taken tragedy and transformed it into art.--Sa�d Sayrafiezade ""author of When Skateboards Will Be Free"" An unflappable, unrelenting examination of abuse and violence, Best Copy Available holds nothing back. Jay Nicorvo is fearless as he confronts the past and fearless as he steps into his future.--Ann Hood ""New York Times bestselling author of Comfort: A Journey Through Grief"" I have read so many accounts of assault and abuse, and I've never read a book like this. This is a tenacious telling. There was not a single sentence I'd read before--Best Copy Available is new in its lack of anticipation, in its headlong pursuit of the experience of bringing a boy into being inside the man who is finally telling the abuse. This book is such a valuable addition, and it's patronizing to say how proud I am that Nicorvo got this down, that he wrote the damn book, so I won't say that. But he went back for the boy, and he took him by the hand. Best Copy Available breaks my heart. Such life.--Lacy Crawford ""author of Notes on a Silencing"" The (true) story unfolding in Best Copy Available is almost unrelentingly bleak, but that relentlessness also makes it difficult to put down. The voice is jagged, dangerous, compelling, and, above all, appropriate.--Geoff Dyer ""author of The Last Days of Roger Federer"" You do not have to be a child of the '80s to deeply feel and understand each piece of Jay Nicorvo's story and the glowing truth that beats throughout Best Copy Available. Is it possible to be sorry, and angry, and sick, and haunted by a book? Because simple, lucid touchstones are absolutely essential to jarring loose the terror and also prying open any story itself--if any (one) of us is to have a chance at grace. I somehow placed my feet onto the floor upon closing this book's final page and felt--quite literally--as if I might fall much deeper than to my knees in holy gratitude for the chance and purpose of being alive on this earth. What a work.--Joanna Parzakonis, co-owner, this is a bookstore & Bookbug"

Author Information

Jay Baron Nicorvo is the author of the novel The Standard Grand and a poetry collection, Deadbeat. His nonfiction has twice been named ""Notable"" in Best American Essays. Nocorvo's writing has been featured on NPR and PBS NewsHour. He's served as an editor at PEN America, the literary magazine of the PEN American Center, and at Ploughshares. He lives with his wife, Thisbe Nissen, their son, a couple of cats, a dog, and a dozen chickens on a defunct farm outside of Battle Creek, Michigan. Find Jay at www.nicorvo.net.

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