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Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?

Author Dave Eggers
Read by MacLeod Andrews, Mark Deakins, Michelle Gonzalez, John H. Mayer, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Rebecca Lowman, Bruce Turk, Marc Cashman
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Audio | Random House Audio
On sale Jun 17, 2014 | 5 Hours and 26 Minutes | 9780553551228
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From Dave Eggers, best-selling author of The Circle, a tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
 
In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at his chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
 
Read by MacLeod Andrews with Mark Deakins, Michelle Gonzalez, John H. Mayer, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Rebecca Lowman, Bruce Turk, and Marc Cashman.
BUILDING 52
 
—I did it. You’re really here. An astronaut. Jesus.
 
—Who’s that?
 
—You probably have a headache. From the chloroform.
 
—What? Where am I? Where is this place? Who the fuck are you?
 
—You don’t recognize me?
 
—What? No. What is this?
 
—That? It’s a chain. It’s attached to that post. Don’t pull on it.
 
—Holy shit. Holy shit.
 
—I said don’t pull on it. And I have to tell you right away how sorry I am that you’re here under these circumstances.
 
—Who are you?
 
—We know each other, Kev. From way back. And I didn’t want to bring you here like this. I mean, I’d rather just grab a beer with you sometime, but you didn’t answer any of my letters and then I saw you were coming through town so— Really, don’t yank on that. You’ll mess up your leg.
 
—Why the fuck am I here?
 
—You’re here because I brought you here.
 
—You did this? You have me chained to a post?
 
—Isn’t that thing great? I don’t know if you’d call it a post. Whatever it is, it’s incredibly strong. This place came with them. This was a military base...
Copyright © 2016 by Dave Eggers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
  • SHORTLIST | 2016
    International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
© Brecht van Maele
DAVE EGGERS is the author of many books, among them The Circle—the companion to the book you are holding—and also The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain. He is the cofounder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centers, and Voice of Witness, an oral history book series that illuminates the stories of those impacted by human rights crises. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the American Book Award. He has attended the JetPack Aviation academy in Moorpark, California, but is not yet certified to fly off-tether. Born in Boston and raised in Illinois, he has now lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for three decades. He and his family often consider leaving, but they do not leave.

www.daveeggers.net View titles by Dave Eggers

About

From Dave Eggers, best-selling author of The Circle, a tightly controlled, emotionally searching novel. Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is the formally daring, brilliantly executed story of one man struggling to make sense of his country, seeking answers the only way he knows how.
 
In a barracks on an abandoned military base, miles from the nearest road, Thomas watches as the man he has brought wakes up. Kev, a NASA astronaut, doesn't recognize his captor, though Thomas remembers him. Kev cries for help. He pulls at his chain. But the ocean is close by, and nobody can hear him over the waves and wind. Thomas apologizes. He didn't want to have to resort to this. But they really needed to have a conversation, and Kev didn't answer his messages. And now, if Kev can just stop yelling, Thomas has a few questions.
 
Read by MacLeod Andrews with Mark Deakins, Michelle Gonzalez, John H. Mayer, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Rebecca Lowman, Bruce Turk, and Marc Cashman.

Excerpt

BUILDING 52
 
—I did it. You’re really here. An astronaut. Jesus.
 
—Who’s that?
 
—You probably have a headache. From the chloroform.
 
—What? Where am I? Where is this place? Who the fuck are you?
 
—You don’t recognize me?
 
—What? No. What is this?
 
—That? It’s a chain. It’s attached to that post. Don’t pull on it.
 
—Holy shit. Holy shit.
 
—I said don’t pull on it. And I have to tell you right away how sorry I am that you’re here under these circumstances.
 
—Who are you?
 
—We know each other, Kev. From way back. And I didn’t want to bring you here like this. I mean, I’d rather just grab a beer with you sometime, but you didn’t answer any of my letters and then I saw you were coming through town so— Really, don’t yank on that. You’ll mess up your leg.
 
—Why the fuck am I here?
 
—You’re here because I brought you here.
 
—You did this? You have me chained to a post?
 
—Isn’t that thing great? I don’t know if you’d call it a post. Whatever it is, it’s incredibly strong. This place came with them. This was a military base...
Copyright © 2016 by Dave Eggers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Awards

  • SHORTLIST | 2016
    International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Author

© Brecht van Maele
DAVE EGGERS is the author of many books, among them The Circle—the companion to the book you are holding—and also The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain. He is the cofounder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centers, and Voice of Witness, an oral history book series that illuminates the stories of those impacted by human rights crises. He has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the American Book Award. He has attended the JetPack Aviation academy in Moorpark, California, but is not yet certified to fly off-tether. Born in Boston and raised in Illinois, he has now lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for three decades. He and his family often consider leaving, but they do not leave.

www.daveeggers.net View titles by Dave Eggers

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