Imagine me gone

a novel

No cover

Adam Haslett: Imagine me gone (2016, Hamish Hamilton)

356 pages

English language

Published Sept. 10, 2016 by Hamish Hamilton.

ISBN:
978-0-241-20122-0
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
956415074

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Michael is John and Margaret's eldest son. He's a precocious kid, smart and funny, obsessed with books and music. His sister Celia is the sensible one in the family: tougher than the boys, unshakeably certain about how the world works. And then there's Alec, the youngest, the most ambitious and also the most sensitive. He grows up in the shadow of Michael's distant coolness and Celia's pragmatic confidence, never quite keeping up with the others. The children are still living at home when their brilliant, beloved father walks into the woods by their house and take his own life. Years later, one of them will follow him. How are we damaged by what we inherit? How much can any family give to save one of its own? And how can you tell the difference between what is passed on and what is picked up between the truly inherited flaw and …

6 editions

Review of 'Imagine me gone' on 'Goodreads'

"Come on now, we have to hold ourselves together."
"Why?"


Holy moly, what a book. You don't often get a book that deals with such sensitivity and precision with mental illness, both from the perspective of the people living with it, and from that of their loved ones.

The characters in the book are so well painted, the relationships so crisply described, even the sex scene (gay sex, even) is uncommonly wonderful. And on top of this, the chapters from the perspective of Michael are funny and sad and brilliant in so many ways. Just an all around excellent read. I highly recommend this book.

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Subjects

  • Faith
  • Fiction