The One-Eyed Man
  • Published: 2 July 2018
  • ISBN: 9780143110453
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $45.00

The One-Eyed Man

A Novel

Formats & editions
Tr. Paperback
2 Jul 2018
EBook
7 Mar 2017
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From the “startlingly talented” (New York Times) author of Everything Matters!—a bold and timely novel about a grieving man dedicated to unmasking the role that lies and delusions play in our reactionary times

Ron Currie’s three previous works of fiction have dazzled readers and critics alike with their originality, audacity, and psychological insight. A writer of unique vision and huge imagination, Currie excels at creating complex, troubled, yet endearing characters, and his work has won comparison to everyone from Kurt Vonnegut to George Saunders.

K., the narrator of Currie’s new novel, joins the ranks of other great American literary creations who show us something new about ourselves. Like Jack Gladney from White Noise, K. is possessed of a hyper-articulate exasperation with the world, and like Ignatius J. Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces, he is a doomed truth teller whom everyone misunderstands. After his wife Sarah dies, K.becomes so wedded to the notion of clarity that he infuriates friends and strangers alike. When he intervenes in an armed robbery, K. finds himself both an inadvertent hero and the star of a new reality television program. Together with Claire, a grocery store clerk with a sharp tongue and a yen for celebrity, he travels the country, ruffling feathers and gaining fame at the intersection of American politics and entertainment. But soon he discovers that the world will fight viciously to preserve its delusions about itself.

How Currie's unconventional hero comes to find peace, to reenter the world, and to be touched again by emotion and empathy makes for a dramatic, utterly memorable story.
  • Published: 2 July 2018
  • ISBN: 9780143110453
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $45.00
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Also by Ron Currie

Flimsy Little Plastic Miracles
Everything Matters!
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Praise for The One-Eyed Man

Nobody writing today walks the knife edge of cynicism and sentiment more bravely, intelligently and confidently than Ron Currie. By turns hilarious and heartfelt, The One-Eyed Man is a revelation, a wonder

Richard Russo

Dark, tender, and oh-so-timely

USA Today

Ron Currie has created a character for our times . . . In these latter days of ‘alternative facts,’ the idea of someone fearlessly dedicated to total, literal honesty sounds awfully appealing

Ron Charles, The Washington Post

A comically verbose and culturally savvy narration tempered by a bass line of vulnerability. K. may not be the truth-telling hero America wants, but he’s unquestionably the one we deserve

The Wall Street Journal

Entertaining . . . a witty, knotty novel of ‘truth

The Los Angeles Times

When George Saunders wrote ‘humor is what happens when we’re told the truth quicker and more directly than we’re used to,’ he was talking about the fiction of Kurt Vonnegut – but the line applies perfectly to Ron Currie’s new novel . . . The One Eyed-Man manages to offer readers humor, truth, and something else: the weird, uncomfortable way that life reveals its plans for us

Nick Ripatrazone, Google Play Books

Currie navigates the funny-sad axis of human relations as well as anyone writing today . . . He’s a consummate performer – engaging and generous, filled with provocative ideas and gorgeous language to express them

Portland Press Herald

Currie is a talented storyteller . . . he explores the pain of loss and the possibility of redemption with aplomb, humor, and an empathetic hand in this heartbreaking tale

Publishers Weekly

Nobody writing today walks the knife edge of cynicism and sentiment more bravely, intelligently and confidently than Ron Currie. By turns hilarious and heartfelt, The One-Eyed Man is a revelation, a wonder

Richard Russo, author of Everybody’s Fool

The One-Eyed Man delivers blistering, hilarious social satire and apocalyptic hijinks with the best of them, but what you have after the smoke clears is a deep, moving novel about love and grief. Ron Currie is a many-eyed and many-hearted wonder

Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask

Dead-on timely satire. Currie is as readable as he is brilliant

Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook

A Swift-ian morality tale about a land of ‘hysteria and half-truths’ . . . Currie’s caustic humor and deadly sarcastic bite win out

Kirkus Reviews