Exit

Awards:   Commended for Governor General's Literary Awards (Translation) 2011
Author:   Nelly Arcan ,  David Scott Hamilton ,  David Scott Hamilton
Publisher:   Anvil Press Publishers Inc
ISBN:  

9781897535660


Pages:   224
Publication Date:   12 June 2011
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

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Awards

  • Commended for Governor General's Literary Awards (Translation) 2011

Overview

"Somewhere in Montreal, in the not too distant future, an obscure company offers custom-designed suicides for its clients with one condition: their desire to die must be pure and absolute. Antoinette Beauchamp is a successful candidate but her suicide is not. Now a bedridden paraplegic, hooked up to machines that monitor all her bodily functions, she tells her story, taking the reader into the Kafkaesque world of the company and its bewildering cast of characters. 'Exit' is at once a profound examination of what it is that drives someone to want to end their life, as well as how that urge can be turned on its head against all odds. Written with her signature brio and acerbic wit, Nelly Arcan's last novel is a hymn to life. ""[The protagonist's] voice is thoroughly belligerent, as she mercilessly explains why she is bent on pursuing hopelessness, ugliness, all that is antithetical to life, and what it means to exist without that strength of will to desire, to discover, to love,to believe'... Ultimately, though, 'Exit' is a strangely hopeful novel..."" - Canadian Literature ""This book plucked the brain from my skull and punted it through the uprights of remembering what writing can be like when a true artist unleashes her talent, passion and fearlessness in a book. No false compromises here. No half-steps. Just a rigorous exercise in ethics and contemporary morals wrapped in humour, helplessness and the absurd. For a book about suicide the writing is tight, energetic, rigorous ... This book will be on my best of the year list."" - Sean Cranbury, Books on the Radio ""A powerful argument for suicide as a human right, 'Exit' is also strangely life-affirming. Ordinarily, these contradictory positions could suffice as the motor of a plot. Arcan's protagonist is the irascible, narcissistic Antoinette Beauchamp, who seeks strength and reason to live from within the depths of her own twisted psychology. Knowing that the young woman who wrote this outrageously beautiful, thoroughly original novel did not is, well, heartbreaking. Cruel, even. So 'Exit' and the late Nelly Arcan's life are a package. In the end, though, I only thought of Nelly Arcan. How could she have had this book inside her, let it out, and still leave us? Great beauty can be found in very dark places."" -The Rover Govenor General's Award Finalist The Globe 100: The very best of 2011"

Full Product Details

Author:   Nelly Arcan ,  David Scott Hamilton ,  David Scott Hamilton
Publisher:   Anvil Press Publishers Inc
Imprint:   Anvil Press Publishers Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 13.20cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 20.60cm
Weight:   0.227kg
ISBN:  

9781897535660


ISBN 10:   189753566
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   12 June 2011
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

Table of Contents

Reviews

<p> Top 10 Book of 2011 --Shelf Unbound<br><p> A compelling crawl through the claustro confines of depression and sweeping suicidal desire ... Dark, beautiful, poignant and clever, Arcan's Exit is a powerful read. --Lisa Foad, The Globe & Mail <br><p> This book plucked the brain from my skull and punted it through the uprights of remembering what writing can be like when a true artist unleashes her talent, passion and fearlessness in a book. No false compromises here. No half-steps. Just a rigorous exercise in ethics and contemporary morals wrapped in humour, helplessness and the absurd. For a book about suicide the writing is tight, energetic, rigorous ... This book will be on my best of the year list. --Sean Cranbury, Books on the Radio <br><p>. ..a remarkable and stunning must-read addition to this year's crop of English CanLit ... It is dark, bleak, shocking and ceaselessly gripping. --Mike Landry, The Telegraph-Journal <br><p> A powerful argument for suicide as a human right, Exit is also strangely life-affirming. Ordinarily, these contradictory positions could suffice as the motor of a plot. Arcan's protagonist is the irascible, narcissistic Antoinette Beauchamp, who seeks strength and reason to live from within the depths of her own twisted psychology. Knowing that the young woman who wrote this outrageously beautiful, thoroughly original novel did not is, well, heartbreaking. Cruel, even. So Exit and the late Nelly Arcan's life are a package. In the end, though, I only thought of Nelly Arcan. How could she have had this book inside her, let it out, and still leave us? Great beauty can be found in very dark places. - The Rover <br><p> A work of originality pushed to the limit. It's crazy. Full of imagination. Even funny at times. A story unlike any other. --Danielle Laurin, Le Devoir <br><p> Her writing will grab you and pull you into a fabulous world. --Benoit Aubin, Le Journal de Quebec


Author Information

Nelly Arcan was born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Her first novel Putain enjoyed immediate critical and media success. It was a finalist for both the Prix Médicis and the Prix Femina, two of France's most prestigious literary awards. Three more novels followed establishing her as a literary star in Quebec and France: Folle (also nominated for the Prix Femina), À ciel ouvert, and L'enfant dans le miroir. Paradis, clef en main, her fourth novel, was completed just days before she committed suicide in 2009 at the age of thirty-six.

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