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Boo

Part of Vintage Contemporaries

Written by Neil Smith
Look inside
Paperback
$14.95 US
Knopf | Vintage
On sale May 12, 2015 | 320 Pages | 978-0-8041-7136-6
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  • English > Comparative Literature: Commonwealth Nations > Canadian
  • About
  • Excerpt
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Do you ever wonder, dear Mother and Father, what kind of toothpaste angels use in heaven? I will tell you. . . . This book I am writing to you about my afterlife will be your nitty-gritty. One day I hope to discover a way to deliver my story to you.

It is the first week of school in 1979, and Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple—ghostly pale eighth grader; aspiring scientist; social pariah—is standing next to his locker, reciting the periodic table. The next thing he knows, he finds himself lying in a strange bed in a strange land. He is a new resident of a place called Town—an afterlife exclusively for thirteen-year-olds. Soon Boo is joined by Johnny Henzel, a fellow classmate, who brings with him a piece of surprising news about the circumstances of the boys’ deaths.

In Town, there are no trees or animals, just endless rows of redbrick dormitories surrounded by unscalable walls. No one grows or ages, but everyone arrives just slightly altered from who he or she was before. To Boo’s great surprise, the qualities that made him an outcast at home win him friends; and he finds himself capable of a joy he has never experienced. But there is a darker side to life after death—and as Boo and Johnny attempt to learn what happened that fateful day, they discover a disturbing truth that will have profound repercussions for both of them.

Hilarious and heartwarming, poignant and profound, Boo is a unique look at the bonds of friendship in what is, ultimately, a book about finding your place in the world—be it this one, or the next.

“Utterly believable. . . . The plot of Boo has real-life resonance for the author, who was on campus at the Université de Montréal in 1989 when a 25-year-old man, Marc Lepine, shot and killed 14 female engineering students. . . . Magical in its setting and plot, there is also a strong element of fable to the book. . . . For all its dead characters, the novel is alive from the outset. Town is a captivating landscape, far away from Hollywood notions of heaven.” —Irish Times
 
“Remarkable. Even without the elves, [Boo] is definitely a work of fantasy, set in an afterlife unrecognizable to adherents of any religion. . . . What gives the novel its vitality . . . is that the fantasy in this case is comic. Its Heaven is a shabby version of an American junior high school, with all its rules and its school spirit and its fun educational activities—and also its cruelties. . . . It is part of Smith’s artistry to leave open the question of whether he’s making fun of religious believers, or rationalists, or both. The reader is in no need of an answer: there’s enough entertainment value in his chronicling the adventures of two American lads in their parallel universe. . . . A pleasure to read. The sensibility is wry, the story compelling despite all the undertones of irony. But it is the sprightliness of the language that matters most.” —National Post
 
“A book worth picking up. Smith's writing is fluid and precise, and his characters' voices feel authentic and comforting. A twist in the story and an adventure that spins out of the main tale will keep readers turning pages until the very end. . . . A fascinating look at what happens when our minds grow while our bodies remain unchanged, all set against the backdrop of the anguish and struggle of forever being a teen. It also gives us a moment to reflect on who we might be if we were a little less ‘ourselves’—our edges softened and our worst traits altered just enough to make us better and maybe even happier selves. . . . In a market seemingly crowded by vampires, wizards and dystopian futures comes a unique and fresh take on the young-adult fantasy novel. Part mystery, part leap of faith and part never-ending junior high classroom, the afterlife created by Canadian author Neil Smith is one never imagined in a Sunday-school classroom. . . . Smith's quirky afterlife is a unique vision of what heaven might be.” —Winnipeg Free Press
 
“A delicious plum pudding of perspectives on spirituality. For starters, the novel is a half-tribute to, half-send-up of Waiting for Godot.” —Melanie Jackson, Vancouver Sun
 
“Part murder mystery and part coming-of-age story, Boo is a fresh take on life, death, and friendship. . . . Smith’s first novel is testament to his immense imagination. . . . Boo not only finds himself in an unusual situation, he is unusual (in the most charming sense). Told from [his] perspective, the novel is reminiscent of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. . . . Boo is honest, direct, and funny. . . . [His] deadpan tone and droll sense of humor are wonderful devices used to separate the tone of the book from its dark material. . . . Smith instills a sense of discovery, surprise, and authentic teen observation into Boo. This mixture makes the novel a realistic coming of age story, despite its unconventional setting. The book is categorized as YA, but the relationship between Oliver and Johnny is complex and tender in a way that transcends many of the rehashed romantic relationships YA novels make front and center.” —Pop Matters (8/10 stars)

“A breakout debut from Smith. . . . Life can be pretty weird at 13, and it turns out the afterlife gets even weirder: When Oliver ‘Boo’ Dalrymple, a gangly, eighth grade bookworm, dies of a hole in his heart just before first period one day, he finds himself in Town, a Burton-esque resting place reserved exclusively for those who die at thirteen. Soon after Boo's arrival, Johnny, a former classmate, appears in Town and brings with him some grim news about the circumstances surrounding their premature passing. Together, the boys form an unlikely alliance to embark on a mission to find more answers. . . . Boo is a quirky page-turner that takes readers on a poignant, and at times dark, journey. If you liked early 2000s indie Wristcutters, you're going to love this.” —Nylon, “Summer Reading Guide”
 
“For a novel centred on death, Neil Smith’s debut—following a critically acclaimed collection of short stories—brims with vitality. . . . Original, wickedly funny and avoiding overt sentimentality, Smith’s writing is consistently assured. As Boo matures and learns the value of mercy, forgiveness and friendship in a strange democratic heaven, his story proves both moving and surprisingly hopeful.” —Financial Times

“A phenomenal book by a singular talent. . . . In short, I fell in love with Boo Dalrymple. It has been ages since a character in a novel captured both my attention and my heart to this degree. . . . The first-person narrative can be an overused tool leading to lazy writing, but in Smith’s talented hands, it simply washes over the reader, gently pulling us into the heart of the world being created. . . . Boo is one of the most genuine literary creations that you’re likely to find in any book this year. . . . The power of Smith’s prose is undeniable. His story unfolds in a manner that somehow manages to be complex in its simplicity. The characters he creates, this wonderful expression of a place built by people who are 13 for five decades—it transports you, plain and simple. The world of Town is a richly realized, utterly unique take on the possibilities of the afterlife. That vision of heavenly segregation would easily be the most brilliant part of most literary efforts; instead, it simply serves as a perfectly prepared canvas on which to paint the portrait of the sweet, smart, sad Boo. . . . Boo is an extraordinary book, full stop. No qualifiers, no ifs, no ands, no buts. It is a wildly compelling, unique story brought to life by a fascinating narrator.” —Allen Adams, The Maine Edge
 
“An original and masterfully told debut novel, a dark and deeply affecting depiction of the hereafter. . . . Smith delivers a splendidly confident debut novel, a fantasy of emotional healing in a unique afterlife.” —Largehearted Boy

“Perfectly drawn. . . . An insightful look at serious issues affecting today’s teenagers—bullying, mental illness, suicide and school shootings. It is the kind of book that should be taught in high school English-lit classes across the country. . . . Surprises pile up as mysteries are solved. The result: Boo is a definite page turner for both adult and teen readers.” —Ottawa Citizen
 
“An adventure story, and a fable about friendship. . . . In Boo, Smith brings his off-the-wall imagination to a whole other realm: the afterlife. . . . He tells us what kind of toothpaste they use in heaven (baking soda), and what kind of houses they live in (red-brick dormitories that look like housing projects). He tells us that there are no insects in heaven and that people get high by smoking chamomile leaves instead of dope. . . . [Boo] might seem lighthearted . . . but there is an undercurrent of deep loss.” —Montreal Review of Books

“A very fast-paced, original and inventive story, with a foundation in emotional intelligence, honesty and flaw. . . . The voice of the scary-smart weird teen, in tandem with the narrative setting, leads you to think this is some crossover between The Lovely Bones and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Though the book exhibits qualities of both, it takes a quick turn to Lord of the Flies. . . . [The] novel’s thematic questions—a terrifying high-wire act—are huger than huge. Smith ventures to convey a reality about bullying and mental health that is far braver than any you’ve ever read, as Boo is a spelunking adventure deep into the caves of life, death, good, evil, mortality, loss and grief. . . . The construction of plot is unlike any you’ve ever seen. . . . You’ll find that the very devastating thoughts of this thirteen-year-old are shockingly intimate, relatable and, in their own way, true.” —Lambda Literary

“Compelling and increasingly poignant. . . . One minute 13-year-old Oliver ‘Boo’ Dalrymple is standing in front of his locker at Helen Keller Junior High School reciting the periodic table to himself (yeah, he’s that kind of boy); the next, he wakes up in bed in a place called Town. . . . The story Boo tells is endlessly intriguing and entertaining as it contemplates the presence—or absence—of God, whom the kids call Zig, while revealing surprising and disturbing truths about the [character’s] previous lives and deaths. Fans of the offbeat will think they’ve died and gone to Town—er, heaven.” —Booklist (starred review)
 
“[Smith] has hit a home run with Boo. . . . All ages will find the novel disturbing, humourous, and absolutely authentic. . . . As the tale unfolds, it becomes darker, richer, and ghoulish, while the spare, conversational prose never patronizes either its reader or diverse cast of eccentrics. . . . Be prepared for surprises. Big surprises. And a desire to reread the entire novel to note the clues missed in the first go.” —Quill & Quire (starred review)

“A splendidly confident debut novel, a fantasy of emotional healing  in a unique afterlife. . . . Smith smoothly develops his vision of an afterlife in which a theoretical god supplies random items from the living world, electronics run without power, and kids are left to their own devices. The story is never about providing solid answers, but readers who appreciate that sort of ambiguity will find that the emotional payoffs are both surprising and moving.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“A touching tale of what friendship and growing up can mean. Oliver Dalrymple, whose pallor earns him the nickname Boo, is a precocious 13-year-old at Helen Keller Junior High when he suddenly dies in front of his locker. He reports this on the first page of what will be his book-length effort to explain the afterlife to his parents. Smith has fun presenting the slightly off or odd details of a limbo called Town where those who have ‘passed’ are gathered with others of the same age—13 in Boo’s case—to live in ‘three-story red-brick dormitories,’ work simple jobs, and abide by a few rules before entering another phase after 50 years. It’s Lord of the Flies without pig slaughter and privation. . . . The novel has an understated message about gun control and bullying and is a fine portrayal of Boo’s emergence from the carapace of fear, distrust, and solitude he grew for himself in his short life. Smith is often amusing in cute and clever ways, but there’s a slyer, more satisfying humor in the twins Tim and Tom Lu, who owe something to Lewis Carroll’s Tweedledum and -dee.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Instantly charming, never predictable, quietly profound—Boo is both literarily and literally haunting and, in the end, devastating.” —Bryan Lee O’Malley, author of Seconds and the Scott Pilgrim series
 
 “Part murder mystery, part existential adventure, Boo is an utter charm-bomb of a novel. Neil Smith’s version of the sweet hereafter shows not only that heaven can be hell, but answers the eternal question of whether it’s better to be dumber with friends or smarter without.” —Zsuzsi Gartner, author of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives
 
“Neil Smith has created a heaven where the sadness and triumph of life aren’t flattened or diminished but heightened and intensified. Just like you always suspected it would be. Boo is sad, beautiful, heartbreaking and impossible to put down.” —Andrew Kaufman, author of All My Friends Are Superheroes and Born Weird
 
“Boo is an astoundingly original novel and Neil Smith's take on the afterlife is convincing, moving, and often funny as hell. A vision equal parts Murakami and South Park.” —Emily Schultz, author of The Blondes
 
“Who knew heaven could be so funny, so perilous, so exquisitely alive? Boo is a work of singular genius: an adventure story, a mystery and a profound meditation on childhood, lost innocence and the power of friendship to save our lives—and afterlives. I believe in Neil Smith’s heaven, with all my heart.” —Jessica Grant, author of Come, Thou Tortoise
1. H.

Do you ever wonder, dear Mother and Father, what kind of toothpaste angels use in heaven? I will tell you. We use baking soda sprinkled on our toothbrushes. It tastes salty, which comes as no surprise because baking soda is a kind of salt known as sodium bicarbonate. 

You never wonder about toothpaste in heaven, do you? After all, you are agnostic. But even believers seldom ponder the nitty-gritty of their afterlife. Thinking of heaven, they imagine simply a feeling of love and a sense of peace. They do not consider whether the pineapple they eat here will be fresh or come from a can. (We actually receive both kinds, though certainly more canned than fresh.) 

This book I am writing to you about my afterlife will be your nitty-gritty. One day I hope to discover a way to deliver my story to you. 

As you know, I died in front of my locker at Helen Keller Junior High on September 8, 1979, which was exactly one month ago today. Before I died, I had been reciting the 106 elements from the periodic table. My locker number (No. 106) had inspired me, and my goal was to memorize all the elements in chronological order. However, when I reached No. 78, platinum (Pt), Jermaine Tucker interrupted by smacking me in the head. “What the hell you doing, Boo?” he said.

I told you once that my classmates called me Boo on account of my ghostly pale skin and my staticky, whitish blond hair that stands on end. Some of them considered me an albino, but of course I am not: a true albino has dark red or almost purplish eyes, whereas mine are light blue.

“Boo! How ironic,” you may say, “because now our son is a ghost.” You would be mistaken, of course, because this is not true irony. Irony would be if Jermaine Tucker had said, “Wow, Boo, I truly respect and admire you for memorizing the periodic table!” Respect and admiration are the opposite of the feelings I aroused in Jermaine and, for that matter, most of my classmates. 

Did you realize I was a pariah? If you did not, I am sorry I never made this clear, but I did not want you fretting about something you could in no way control. You already worried enough about the inoperable hole in my heart and had long warned me about straining my heart muscles.

Jermaine walked off to class, and I continued undeterred with my count as scientists Richard Dawkins and Jane Goodall watched me from the photographs I had taped to the back of my locker door. For the first time ever, I reached No. 106, seaborgium (Sg), without stealing a peek at the periodic table hung below the photos of Richard and Jane.

My feat of memorization, however, must have overexcited my heart because I immediately fainted to the floor. I could say I “gave up the ghost,” especially in light of my nickname, but I dislike euphemism. I prefer to say the truth simply and plainly. The plain and simple truth: my heart stopped and I died.

How much time passed between my heart’s final chug in the school hallway and my eyes opening in the hereafter I cannot say. After all, who knows which time zone heaven is in? But as I glanced around the room where I found myself, I certainly did not see the clichéd image of heaven. No white-robed angels with kind smiles gliding out of a bank of clouds and singing in dulcet tones. Instead, I saw a black girl snoring as she slept in a high-back swivel chair, a book at her feet.

I immediately knew I was dead. My first clue: I saw the girl perfectly even though I was not wearing my eyeglasses. I even saw the title of her book (Brown Girl, Brownstones). Indeed, I saw everything around me with great clarity. The girl wore blue jeans and a T-shirt with a decal of a litter of angora kittens. Colorful beads dangled from the ends of her cornrows, and they reminded me of the abacus you gave me when I was five years old.

I lay in a single bed covered in a sheet and a thin cotton blanket. Other than the swivel chair, the bed was the only furniture in the windowless room. Overhead a ceiling fan spun. Hung on the walls were abstract paintings—squiggles, splotches, and drippings. I sat up in bed. My naked chest seemed whiter than normal, and the bluish arteries marbling my shoulders stood out. I peeked under the blanket and saw I was not wearing a pajama bottom or even underwear. Nudity itself does not bother me, though: to me, a penis is no more embarrassing than an ear or a nose. Still, do not assume I had found the Helen Keller gym showers, for example, a comfortable place to be. That communal shower room was a breeding ground for the human papillomavirus causing plantar warts. And on two occasions there, Kevin Stein thought it would be sidesplitting to urinate on my leg. 

“Excuse me! Hello!” I called out to the girl in the swivel chair, who woke with a start. She stared at me wide-eyed.

“May I assume I am dead?” I asked.

She lurched out of her chair and hurried over, accidentally kicking her novel under the bed. She grabbed my hand and squeezed. I yanked it back because as you know, I dislike being touched.

“You ain’t dead, honey,” she said. “You passed, but you’re still alive.”

“Passed?”

“We say ‘passed’ here instead of ‘died.’ Passed like you did good on a math test.” She gave me a smile that exposed a gap between her front teeth wide enough to stick a drinking straw through. When she sat down on the side of the bed, it listed because she was heavy. I once read an article on longevity in the magazine Science that claimed that thin people lived longer. To offset my holey heart, I tried to prolong my life by keeping a slim physique. Needless to say, my efforts came to naught.

“Let me introduce myself,” the girl said. “My name’s Thelma Rudd, and I’m originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, where my family runs the Horseshoe Diner.” She asked what my name was and where I came from.

“Oliver Dalrymple from Hoffman Estates, Illinois,” I told her. “My parents have a barbershop there called Clippers.” 

“Do you know how you passed, Oliver Dalrymple?”

“I believe I died of a holey heart.”

“A holy heart?” She looked puzzled. “We all have holy hearts up here.”

“No, I mean my heart has an actual hole in it.”

“Oh, how terrible,” she said and patted my leg.

Thelma went on to explain that she belonged to a group of volunteers known as the “do-gooders.” “I always sign up for rebirthing duty here at the Meg Murry Infirmary,” she said. “I like welcoming newborns like yourself.”

I asked how long a “rebirthing” took.

“It’s over in the blink of an eye.” Thelma blinked several times. “A do-gooder’s always on rebirthing duty at the Meg. We never know when we’re gonna get a package.”

She patted the mattress, and I eyed the bed, its rumpled blanket and its pillow with the indent from my head. The bed did not look mysterious or miraculous in any way. “We just materialize here?” I asked.

Thelma nodded. She gave me a probing look, eyes so deep-set I figured she, too, once wore glasses. “You know, hon, you’re the calmest newborn I ever did meet,” she said. “You wouldn’t believe the hysterics I seen in my nineteen years in Town.”

“Nineteen years!?” I said. “But you look my age.”

“Oh, we’re all thirteen here.”

This particular hereafter, she clarified, was reserved for Americans who passed at age thirteen. “We call it Town,” she said. “Us townies believe there’s lots of towns of heaven. One for every age—one for people who pass at sixteen, one for people who pass at twenty-three, one for people who pass at forty-four, and so on and so forth.” 

“Thirteen,” I said, mystified. “You are all thirteen?”

“Townies never age. We stay thirteen all our afterlives. I look exactly the same as when I came here nineteen years ago.”

You will find this nonsensical, Mother and Father, but this stagnation in the hereafter saddened me more than the realization of my own death did. I would never grow up, never go to university, and never become a scientist. And, frankly, I had seen enough of thirteen-year-olds back in America—their stupidity, cruelty, and immaturity. 

Thelma noticed my sudden distress. “Oh, but we grow wiser the longer we stay here,” she said. “Well, at least some of us do.”

“Segregating the afterlife by age seems logical,” I said to be a good sport. “After all, if the dead were all housed in the same place, Town would be seriously overpopulated.” 

I then asked, “Will I be here for eternity?” 

She shook her head. “No, us townies only get five decades here. After our time’s up, we go to sleep one night and never wake. We vanish in the night. All we leave behind is our PJs.”
“Oh my.” I said. “Where do we go next?”

“Some say we move to a higher level of heaven, one with better food, sturdier plumbing, and sunnier skies,” Thelma replied. “Others wonder if we reincarnate back to America. But the truth is, nobody really knows where we go.”

Thelma got up from the bed and opened the door to a walk-in closet. She came out carrying a pair of jeans, T‑shirts, boxer shorts, and socks, which she laid on the bed.

“What’s your shoe size?”

“Seven,” I said. 

She went back in the closet to find me some shoes.

“Do you have any penny loafers?” I asked because they are the shoes you would always buy me, Mother.

“Town has no leather shoes,” Thelma called out. “Leather’s dead cow and heaven ain’t no place for the dead.” 

While she was in the closet, I slipped on the boxer shorts and then the jeans, which were covered in red, white, and blue patches from the Bicentennial three years ago. “So only Americans come here?” I asked.

“Yep. We don’t get no foreigners. Just people who lived in the U. S. of A.” 

I thought of absurd science-fiction films where the characters on distant planets spoke fluent American English, but never Swedish or Swahili. 

“What about different religions?” I asked as I slipped on a tie-dyed T-shirt from the half-dozen shirts on the bed.

“Oh, we aren’t divided by religion. We get all kinds here. Baptists, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses. You name it, honey, we get it.”

She came out carrying a tatty pair of sneakers, which had the letters L and R inked on the toes. She handed them over. “What religion are you?” she asked. 

“Atheist.” 

She let out a whoop of laughter. “I don’t always have much faith in a supreme being myself,” she said. 

I sat on the bed and put on the sneakers. She sat beside me and picked lint off my T-shirt.

“I ain’t religious, but I am a spiritual person,” she said. “You spiritual, Oliver?”

“I have never had a spiritual day in my entire life.”

She gave me a gap-toothed smile. “Well, your entire American life’s over, honey,” she said. “But your afterlife’s all set to begin. Maybe you’ll find yourself some spirituality here.”
Copyright © 2015 by Neil Smith. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
NEIL SMITH is a French translator and the author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller Bang Crunch. He has been nominated for the Hugh McLennan Prize for Fiction, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize--Best First Book (Canada), as well as the Journey Prize 3 times. He has also won the First Book Prize from the Quebec Writers' Federation. He lives in Montreal.
Photo © Michael Lionstar
Learn more about Neil Smith

About

Do you ever wonder, dear Mother and Father, what kind of toothpaste angels use in heaven? I will tell you. . . . This book I am writing to you about my afterlife will be your nitty-gritty. One day I hope to discover a way to deliver my story to you.

It is the first week of school in 1979, and Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple—ghostly pale eighth grader; aspiring scientist; social pariah—is standing next to his locker, reciting the periodic table. The next thing he knows, he finds himself lying in a strange bed in a strange land. He is a new resident of a place called Town—an afterlife exclusively for thirteen-year-olds. Soon Boo is joined by Johnny Henzel, a fellow classmate, who brings with him a piece of surprising news about the circumstances of the boys’ deaths.

In Town, there are no trees or animals, just endless rows of redbrick dormitories surrounded by unscalable walls. No one grows or ages, but everyone arrives just slightly altered from who he or she was before. To Boo’s great surprise, the qualities that made him an outcast at home win him friends; and he finds himself capable of a joy he has never experienced. But there is a darker side to life after death—and as Boo and Johnny attempt to learn what happened that fateful day, they discover a disturbing truth that will have profound repercussions for both of them.

Hilarious and heartwarming, poignant and profound, Boo is a unique look at the bonds of friendship in what is, ultimately, a book about finding your place in the world—be it this one, or the next.

“Utterly believable. . . . The plot of Boo has real-life resonance for the author, who was on campus at the Université de Montréal in 1989 when a 25-year-old man, Marc Lepine, shot and killed 14 female engineering students. . . . Magical in its setting and plot, there is also a strong element of fable to the book. . . . For all its dead characters, the novel is alive from the outset. Town is a captivating landscape, far away from Hollywood notions of heaven.” —Irish Times
 
“Remarkable. Even without the elves, [Boo] is definitely a work of fantasy, set in an afterlife unrecognizable to adherents of any religion. . . . What gives the novel its vitality . . . is that the fantasy in this case is comic. Its Heaven is a shabby version of an American junior high school, with all its rules and its school spirit and its fun educational activities—and also its cruelties. . . . It is part of Smith’s artistry to leave open the question of whether he’s making fun of religious believers, or rationalists, or both. The reader is in no need of an answer: there’s enough entertainment value in his chronicling the adventures of two American lads in their parallel universe. . . . A pleasure to read. The sensibility is wry, the story compelling despite all the undertones of irony. But it is the sprightliness of the language that matters most.” —National Post
 
“A book worth picking up. Smith's writing is fluid and precise, and his characters' voices feel authentic and comforting. A twist in the story and an adventure that spins out of the main tale will keep readers turning pages until the very end. . . . A fascinating look at what happens when our minds grow while our bodies remain unchanged, all set against the backdrop of the anguish and struggle of forever being a teen. It also gives us a moment to reflect on who we might be if we were a little less ‘ourselves’—our edges softened and our worst traits altered just enough to make us better and maybe even happier selves. . . . In a market seemingly crowded by vampires, wizards and dystopian futures comes a unique and fresh take on the young-adult fantasy novel. Part mystery, part leap of faith and part never-ending junior high classroom, the afterlife created by Canadian author Neil Smith is one never imagined in a Sunday-school classroom. . . . Smith's quirky afterlife is a unique vision of what heaven might be.” —Winnipeg Free Press
 
“A delicious plum pudding of perspectives on spirituality. For starters, the novel is a half-tribute to, half-send-up of Waiting for Godot.” —Melanie Jackson, Vancouver Sun
 
“Part murder mystery and part coming-of-age story, Boo is a fresh take on life, death, and friendship. . . . Smith’s first novel is testament to his immense imagination. . . . Boo not only finds himself in an unusual situation, he is unusual (in the most charming sense). Told from [his] perspective, the novel is reminiscent of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. . . . Boo is honest, direct, and funny. . . . [His] deadpan tone and droll sense of humor are wonderful devices used to separate the tone of the book from its dark material. . . . Smith instills a sense of discovery, surprise, and authentic teen observation into Boo. This mixture makes the novel a realistic coming of age story, despite its unconventional setting. The book is categorized as YA, but the relationship between Oliver and Johnny is complex and tender in a way that transcends many of the rehashed romantic relationships YA novels make front and center.” —Pop Matters (8/10 stars)

“A breakout debut from Smith. . . . Life can be pretty weird at 13, and it turns out the afterlife gets even weirder: When Oliver ‘Boo’ Dalrymple, a gangly, eighth grade bookworm, dies of a hole in his heart just before first period one day, he finds himself in Town, a Burton-esque resting place reserved exclusively for those who die at thirteen. Soon after Boo's arrival, Johnny, a former classmate, appears in Town and brings with him some grim news about the circumstances surrounding their premature passing. Together, the boys form an unlikely alliance to embark on a mission to find more answers. . . . Boo is a quirky page-turner that takes readers on a poignant, and at times dark, journey. If you liked early 2000s indie Wristcutters, you're going to love this.” —Nylon, “Summer Reading Guide”
 
“For a novel centred on death, Neil Smith’s debut—following a critically acclaimed collection of short stories—brims with vitality. . . . Original, wickedly funny and avoiding overt sentimentality, Smith’s writing is consistently assured. As Boo matures and learns the value of mercy, forgiveness and friendship in a strange democratic heaven, his story proves both moving and surprisingly hopeful.” —Financial Times

“A phenomenal book by a singular talent. . . . In short, I fell in love with Boo Dalrymple. It has been ages since a character in a novel captured both my attention and my heart to this degree. . . . The first-person narrative can be an overused tool leading to lazy writing, but in Smith’s talented hands, it simply washes over the reader, gently pulling us into the heart of the world being created. . . . Boo is one of the most genuine literary creations that you’re likely to find in any book this year. . . . The power of Smith’s prose is undeniable. His story unfolds in a manner that somehow manages to be complex in its simplicity. The characters he creates, this wonderful expression of a place built by people who are 13 for five decades—it transports you, plain and simple. The world of Town is a richly realized, utterly unique take on the possibilities of the afterlife. That vision of heavenly segregation would easily be the most brilliant part of most literary efforts; instead, it simply serves as a perfectly prepared canvas on which to paint the portrait of the sweet, smart, sad Boo. . . . Boo is an extraordinary book, full stop. No qualifiers, no ifs, no ands, no buts. It is a wildly compelling, unique story brought to life by a fascinating narrator.” —Allen Adams, The Maine Edge
 
“An original and masterfully told debut novel, a dark and deeply affecting depiction of the hereafter. . . . Smith delivers a splendidly confident debut novel, a fantasy of emotional healing in a unique afterlife.” —Largehearted Boy

“Perfectly drawn. . . . An insightful look at serious issues affecting today’s teenagers—bullying, mental illness, suicide and school shootings. It is the kind of book that should be taught in high school English-lit classes across the country. . . . Surprises pile up as mysteries are solved. The result: Boo is a definite page turner for both adult and teen readers.” —Ottawa Citizen
 
“An adventure story, and a fable about friendship. . . . In Boo, Smith brings his off-the-wall imagination to a whole other realm: the afterlife. . . . He tells us what kind of toothpaste they use in heaven (baking soda), and what kind of houses they live in (red-brick dormitories that look like housing projects). He tells us that there are no insects in heaven and that people get high by smoking chamomile leaves instead of dope. . . . [Boo] might seem lighthearted . . . but there is an undercurrent of deep loss.” —Montreal Review of Books

“A very fast-paced, original and inventive story, with a foundation in emotional intelligence, honesty and flaw. . . . The voice of the scary-smart weird teen, in tandem with the narrative setting, leads you to think this is some crossover between The Lovely Bones and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Though the book exhibits qualities of both, it takes a quick turn to Lord of the Flies. . . . [The] novel’s thematic questions—a terrifying high-wire act—are huger than huge. Smith ventures to convey a reality about bullying and mental health that is far braver than any you’ve ever read, as Boo is a spelunking adventure deep into the caves of life, death, good, evil, mortality, loss and grief. . . . The construction of plot is unlike any you’ve ever seen. . . . You’ll find that the very devastating thoughts of this thirteen-year-old are shockingly intimate, relatable and, in their own way, true.” —Lambda Literary

“Compelling and increasingly poignant. . . . One minute 13-year-old Oliver ‘Boo’ Dalrymple is standing in front of his locker at Helen Keller Junior High School reciting the periodic table to himself (yeah, he’s that kind of boy); the next, he wakes up in bed in a place called Town. . . . The story Boo tells is endlessly intriguing and entertaining as it contemplates the presence—or absence—of God, whom the kids call Zig, while revealing surprising and disturbing truths about the [character’s] previous lives and deaths. Fans of the offbeat will think they’ve died and gone to Town—er, heaven.” —Booklist (starred review)
 
“[Smith] has hit a home run with Boo. . . . All ages will find the novel disturbing, humourous, and absolutely authentic. . . . As the tale unfolds, it becomes darker, richer, and ghoulish, while the spare, conversational prose never patronizes either its reader or diverse cast of eccentrics. . . . Be prepared for surprises. Big surprises. And a desire to reread the entire novel to note the clues missed in the first go.” —Quill & Quire (starred review)

“A splendidly confident debut novel, a fantasy of emotional healing  in a unique afterlife. . . . Smith smoothly develops his vision of an afterlife in which a theoretical god supplies random items from the living world, electronics run without power, and kids are left to their own devices. The story is never about providing solid answers, but readers who appreciate that sort of ambiguity will find that the emotional payoffs are both surprising and moving.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
 
“A touching tale of what friendship and growing up can mean. Oliver Dalrymple, whose pallor earns him the nickname Boo, is a precocious 13-year-old at Helen Keller Junior High when he suddenly dies in front of his locker. He reports this on the first page of what will be his book-length effort to explain the afterlife to his parents. Smith has fun presenting the slightly off or odd details of a limbo called Town where those who have ‘passed’ are gathered with others of the same age—13 in Boo’s case—to live in ‘three-story red-brick dormitories,’ work simple jobs, and abide by a few rules before entering another phase after 50 years. It’s Lord of the Flies without pig slaughter and privation. . . . The novel has an understated message about gun control and bullying and is a fine portrayal of Boo’s emergence from the carapace of fear, distrust, and solitude he grew for himself in his short life. Smith is often amusing in cute and clever ways, but there’s a slyer, more satisfying humor in the twins Tim and Tom Lu, who owe something to Lewis Carroll’s Tweedledum and -dee.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Instantly charming, never predictable, quietly profound—Boo is both literarily and literally haunting and, in the end, devastating.” —Bryan Lee O’Malley, author of Seconds and the Scott Pilgrim series
 
 “Part murder mystery, part existential adventure, Boo is an utter charm-bomb of a novel. Neil Smith’s version of the sweet hereafter shows not only that heaven can be hell, but answers the eternal question of whether it’s better to be dumber with friends or smarter without.” —Zsuzsi Gartner, author of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives
 
“Neil Smith has created a heaven where the sadness and triumph of life aren’t flattened or diminished but heightened and intensified. Just like you always suspected it would be. Boo is sad, beautiful, heartbreaking and impossible to put down.” —Andrew Kaufman, author of All My Friends Are Superheroes and Born Weird
 
“Boo is an astoundingly original novel and Neil Smith's take on the afterlife is convincing, moving, and often funny as hell. A vision equal parts Murakami and South Park.” —Emily Schultz, author of The Blondes
 
“Who knew heaven could be so funny, so perilous, so exquisitely alive? Boo is a work of singular genius: an adventure story, a mystery and a profound meditation on childhood, lost innocence and the power of friendship to save our lives—and afterlives. I believe in Neil Smith’s heaven, with all my heart.” —Jessica Grant, author of Come, Thou Tortoise

Excerpt

1. H.

Do you ever wonder, dear Mother and Father, what kind of toothpaste angels use in heaven? I will tell you. We use baking soda sprinkled on our toothbrushes. It tastes salty, which comes as no surprise because baking soda is a kind of salt known as sodium bicarbonate. 

You never wonder about toothpaste in heaven, do you? After all, you are agnostic. But even believers seldom ponder the nitty-gritty of their afterlife. Thinking of heaven, they imagine simply a feeling of love and a sense of peace. They do not consider whether the pineapple they eat here will be fresh or come from a can. (We actually receive both kinds, though certainly more canned than fresh.) 

This book I am writing to you about my afterlife will be your nitty-gritty. One day I hope to discover a way to deliver my story to you. 

As you know, I died in front of my locker at Helen Keller Junior High on September 8, 1979, which was exactly one month ago today. Before I died, I had been reciting the 106 elements from the periodic table. My locker number (No. 106) had inspired me, and my goal was to memorize all the elements in chronological order. However, when I reached No. 78, platinum (Pt), Jermaine Tucker interrupted by smacking me in the head. “What the hell you doing, Boo?” he said.

I told you once that my classmates called me Boo on account of my ghostly pale skin and my staticky, whitish blond hair that stands on end. Some of them considered me an albino, but of course I am not: a true albino has dark red or almost purplish eyes, whereas mine are light blue.

“Boo! How ironic,” you may say, “because now our son is a ghost.” You would be mistaken, of course, because this is not true irony. Irony would be if Jermaine Tucker had said, “Wow, Boo, I truly respect and admire you for memorizing the periodic table!” Respect and admiration are the opposite of the feelings I aroused in Jermaine and, for that matter, most of my classmates. 

Did you realize I was a pariah? If you did not, I am sorry I never made this clear, but I did not want you fretting about something you could in no way control. You already worried enough about the inoperable hole in my heart and had long warned me about straining my heart muscles.

Jermaine walked off to class, and I continued undeterred with my count as scientists Richard Dawkins and Jane Goodall watched me from the photographs I had taped to the back of my locker door. For the first time ever, I reached No. 106, seaborgium (Sg), without stealing a peek at the periodic table hung below the photos of Richard and Jane.

My feat of memorization, however, must have overexcited my heart because I immediately fainted to the floor. I could say I “gave up the ghost,” especially in light of my nickname, but I dislike euphemism. I prefer to say the truth simply and plainly. The plain and simple truth: my heart stopped and I died.

How much time passed between my heart’s final chug in the school hallway and my eyes opening in the hereafter I cannot say. After all, who knows which time zone heaven is in? But as I glanced around the room where I found myself, I certainly did not see the clichéd image of heaven. No white-robed angels with kind smiles gliding out of a bank of clouds and singing in dulcet tones. Instead, I saw a black girl snoring as she slept in a high-back swivel chair, a book at her feet.

I immediately knew I was dead. My first clue: I saw the girl perfectly even though I was not wearing my eyeglasses. I even saw the title of her book (Brown Girl, Brownstones). Indeed, I saw everything around me with great clarity. The girl wore blue jeans and a T-shirt with a decal of a litter of angora kittens. Colorful beads dangled from the ends of her cornrows, and they reminded me of the abacus you gave me when I was five years old.

I lay in a single bed covered in a sheet and a thin cotton blanket. Other than the swivel chair, the bed was the only furniture in the windowless room. Overhead a ceiling fan spun. Hung on the walls were abstract paintings—squiggles, splotches, and drippings. I sat up in bed. My naked chest seemed whiter than normal, and the bluish arteries marbling my shoulders stood out. I peeked under the blanket and saw I was not wearing a pajama bottom or even underwear. Nudity itself does not bother me, though: to me, a penis is no more embarrassing than an ear or a nose. Still, do not assume I had found the Helen Keller gym showers, for example, a comfortable place to be. That communal shower room was a breeding ground for the human papillomavirus causing plantar warts. And on two occasions there, Kevin Stein thought it would be sidesplitting to urinate on my leg. 

“Excuse me! Hello!” I called out to the girl in the swivel chair, who woke with a start. She stared at me wide-eyed.

“May I assume I am dead?” I asked.

She lurched out of her chair and hurried over, accidentally kicking her novel under the bed. She grabbed my hand and squeezed. I yanked it back because as you know, I dislike being touched.

“You ain’t dead, honey,” she said. “You passed, but you’re still alive.”

“Passed?”

“We say ‘passed’ here instead of ‘died.’ Passed like you did good on a math test.” She gave me a smile that exposed a gap between her front teeth wide enough to stick a drinking straw through. When she sat down on the side of the bed, it listed because she was heavy. I once read an article on longevity in the magazine Science that claimed that thin people lived longer. To offset my holey heart, I tried to prolong my life by keeping a slim physique. Needless to say, my efforts came to naught.

“Let me introduce myself,” the girl said. “My name’s Thelma Rudd, and I’m originally from Wilmington, North Carolina, where my family runs the Horseshoe Diner.” She asked what my name was and where I came from.

“Oliver Dalrymple from Hoffman Estates, Illinois,” I told her. “My parents have a barbershop there called Clippers.” 

“Do you know how you passed, Oliver Dalrymple?”

“I believe I died of a holey heart.”

“A holy heart?” She looked puzzled. “We all have holy hearts up here.”

“No, I mean my heart has an actual hole in it.”

“Oh, how terrible,” she said and patted my leg.

Thelma went on to explain that she belonged to a group of volunteers known as the “do-gooders.” “I always sign up for rebirthing duty here at the Meg Murry Infirmary,” she said. “I like welcoming newborns like yourself.”

I asked how long a “rebirthing” took.

“It’s over in the blink of an eye.” Thelma blinked several times. “A do-gooder’s always on rebirthing duty at the Meg. We never know when we’re gonna get a package.”

She patted the mattress, and I eyed the bed, its rumpled blanket and its pillow with the indent from my head. The bed did not look mysterious or miraculous in any way. “We just materialize here?” I asked.

Thelma nodded. She gave me a probing look, eyes so deep-set I figured she, too, once wore glasses. “You know, hon, you’re the calmest newborn I ever did meet,” she said. “You wouldn’t believe the hysterics I seen in my nineteen years in Town.”

“Nineteen years!?” I said. “But you look my age.”

“Oh, we’re all thirteen here.”

This particular hereafter, she clarified, was reserved for Americans who passed at age thirteen. “We call it Town,” she said. “Us townies believe there’s lots of towns of heaven. One for every age—one for people who pass at sixteen, one for people who pass at twenty-three, one for people who pass at forty-four, and so on and so forth.” 

“Thirteen,” I said, mystified. “You are all thirteen?”

“Townies never age. We stay thirteen all our afterlives. I look exactly the same as when I came here nineteen years ago.”

You will find this nonsensical, Mother and Father, but this stagnation in the hereafter saddened me more than the realization of my own death did. I would never grow up, never go to university, and never become a scientist. And, frankly, I had seen enough of thirteen-year-olds back in America—their stupidity, cruelty, and immaturity. 

Thelma noticed my sudden distress. “Oh, but we grow wiser the longer we stay here,” she said. “Well, at least some of us do.”

“Segregating the afterlife by age seems logical,” I said to be a good sport. “After all, if the dead were all housed in the same place, Town would be seriously overpopulated.” 

I then asked, “Will I be here for eternity?” 

She shook her head. “No, us townies only get five decades here. After our time’s up, we go to sleep one night and never wake. We vanish in the night. All we leave behind is our PJs.”
“Oh my.” I said. “Where do we go next?”

“Some say we move to a higher level of heaven, one with better food, sturdier plumbing, and sunnier skies,” Thelma replied. “Others wonder if we reincarnate back to America. But the truth is, nobody really knows where we go.”

Thelma got up from the bed and opened the door to a walk-in closet. She came out carrying a pair of jeans, T‑shirts, boxer shorts, and socks, which she laid on the bed.

“What’s your shoe size?”

“Seven,” I said. 

She went back in the closet to find me some shoes.

“Do you have any penny loafers?” I asked because they are the shoes you would always buy me, Mother.

“Town has no leather shoes,” Thelma called out. “Leather’s dead cow and heaven ain’t no place for the dead.” 

While she was in the closet, I slipped on the boxer shorts and then the jeans, which were covered in red, white, and blue patches from the Bicentennial three years ago. “So only Americans come here?” I asked.

“Yep. We don’t get no foreigners. Just people who lived in the U. S. of A.” 

I thought of absurd science-fiction films where the characters on distant planets spoke fluent American English, but never Swedish or Swahili. 

“What about different religions?” I asked as I slipped on a tie-dyed T-shirt from the half-dozen shirts on the bed.

“Oh, we aren’t divided by religion. We get all kinds here. Baptists, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses. You name it, honey, we get it.”

She came out carrying a tatty pair of sneakers, which had the letters L and R inked on the toes. She handed them over. “What religion are you?” she asked. 

“Atheist.” 

She let out a whoop of laughter. “I don’t always have much faith in a supreme being myself,” she said. 

I sat on the bed and put on the sneakers. She sat beside me and picked lint off my T-shirt.

“I ain’t religious, but I am a spiritual person,” she said. “You spiritual, Oliver?”

“I have never had a spiritual day in my entire life.”

She gave me a gap-toothed smile. “Well, your entire American life’s over, honey,” she said. “But your afterlife’s all set to begin. Maybe you’ll find yourself some spirituality here.”
Copyright © 2015 by Neil Smith. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Author

NEIL SMITH is a French translator and the author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller Bang Crunch. He has been nominated for the Hugh McLennan Prize for Fiction, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize--Best First Book (Canada), as well as the Journey Prize 3 times. He has also won the First Book Prize from the Quebec Writers' Federation. He lives in Montreal.
Photo © Michael Lionstar
Learn more about Neil Smith

Additional formats

  • Boo
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    978-0-8041-7137-3
    $4.99 US
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    Vintage
    May 12, 2015
  • Boo
    Boo
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    978-0-8041-7137-3
    $4.99 US
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    Vintage
    May 12, 2015

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  • The Tragedy of Brady Sims
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims
    Ernest J. Gaines
    978-0-525-43446-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 29, 2017
  • Bridget Jones's Baby
    Bridget Jones's Baby
    The Diaries
    Helen Fielding
    978-0-525-43388-0
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 25, 2017
  • Attic
    Attic
    Katherine Dunn
    978-0-525-43406-1
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 11, 2017
  • How to Set a Fire and Why
    How to Set a Fire and Why
    A Novel
    Jesse Ball
    978-1-101-91175-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 13, 2017
  • Break in Case of Emergency
    Break in Case of Emergency
    A Novel
    Jessica Winter
    978-1-101-91193-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 13, 2017
  • The Hopefuls
    The Hopefuls
    Jennifer Close
    978-1-101-91145-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 30, 2017
  • Bright, Precious Days
    Bright, Precious Days
    A Novel
    Jay McInerney
    978-1-101-97226-7
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 30, 2017
  • This Must Be the Place
    This Must Be the Place
    Maggie O'Farrell
    978-0-345-80472-3
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 16, 2017
  • The Pier Falls
    The Pier Falls
    And Other Stories
    Mark Haddon
    978-1-101-97013-3
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 02, 2017
  • Dear Fang, With Love
    Dear Fang, With Love
    A Novel
    Rufi Thorpe
    978-1-101-91157-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 18, 2017
  • Sweetbitter
    Sweetbitter
    Stephanie Danler
    978-1-101-91186-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 04, 2017
  • Honeymoon and Other Stories
    Honeymoon and Other Stories
    Kevin Canty
    978-0-525-43504-4
    $11.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Feb 22, 2017
  • Before the Wind
    Before the Wind
    A Novel
    Jim Lynch
    978-0-307-94935-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 21, 2017
  • Burning Down the House
    Burning Down the House
    A Novel
    Jane Mendelsohn
    978-1-101-91119-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 21, 2017
  • The Bed Moved
    The Bed Moved
    Stories
    Rebecca Schiff
    978-1-101-91085-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 07, 2017
  • Everybody's Fool
    Everybody's Fool
    A Novel
    Richard Russo
    978-0-307-45482-9
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 24, 2017
  • The Guest Room
    The Guest Room
    Chris Bohjalian
    978-0-8041-7098-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Oct 25, 2016
  • The Mare
    The Mare
    A Novel
    Mary Gaitskill
    978-0-307-74360-2
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Oct 04, 2016
  • Sea Lovers
    Sea Lovers
    Selected Stories
    Valerie Martin
    978-0-307-73955-1
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 23, 2016
  • California Bloodstock
    California Bloodstock
    Terry McDonell
    978-0-525-43304-0
    $11.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Aug 17, 2016
  • The Visiting Privilege
    The Visiting Privilege
    New and Collected Stories
    Joy Williams
    978-1-101-87371-7
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 09, 2016
  • The Captive Condition
    The Captive Condition
    A Novel
    Kevin P. Keating
    978-0-8041-6930-1
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 12, 2016
  • Days of Awe
    Days of Awe
    Lauren Fox
    978-0-307-38827-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 28, 2016
  • Our Souls at Night
    Our Souls at Night
    Kent Haruf, Alan Kent Haruf
    978-1-101-91192-1
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 28, 2016
  • The Jezebel Remedy
    The Jezebel Remedy
    Martin Clark
    978-0-8041-7290-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 14, 2016
  • A Cure for Suicide
    A Cure for Suicide
    A Novel
    Jesse Ball
    978-1-101-87213-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 14, 2016
  • A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me
    A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me
    Stories and a Novella
    David Gates
    978-0-8041-6874-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 19, 2016
  • Act of God
    Act of God
    A Novel
    Jill Ciment
    978-0-8041-6970-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 22, 2016
  • Crow Fair
    Crow Fair
    Thomas McGuane
    978-0-345-80591-1
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 08, 2016
  • Voices in the Night
    Voices in the Night
    Steven Millhauser
    978-0-8041-6908-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 08, 2016
  • She Weeps Each Time You're Born
    She Weeps Each Time You're Born
    Quan Barry
    978-0-8041-7130-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 23, 2016
  • There's Something I Want You to Do
    There's Something I Want You to Do
    Stories
    Charles Baxter
    978-0-8041-7273-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 23, 2016
  • Lucky Alan
    Lucky Alan
    and Other Stories
    Jonathan Lethem
    978-1-101-87366-3
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 23, 2016
  • The Tusk That Did the Damage
    The Tusk That Did the Damage
    Tania James
    978-0-8041-7343-8
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 09, 2016
  • Single, Carefree, Mellow
    Single, Carefree, Mellow
    Katherine Heiny
    978-0-8041-7315-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 26, 2016
  • The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe
    The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe
    Romain Puertolas
    978-0-8041-7208-0
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 12, 2016
  • Beginners
    Beginners
    Raymond Carver
    978-0-307-94792-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Sep 15, 2015
  • The Half-Life of Happiness
    The Half-Life of Happiness
    John Casey
    978-1-101-97128-4
    $9.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Aug 19, 2015
  • How to Write a Novel
    How to Write a Novel
    Melanie Sumner
    978-1-101-87347-2
    $14.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 04, 2015
  • The Singer's Gun
    The Singer's Gun
    Emily St. John Mandel
    978-1-101-91197-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 04, 2015
  • The Lola Quartet
    The Lola Quartet
    A Suspense Thriller
    Emily St. John Mandel
    978-1-101-91199-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 04, 2015
  • Before, During, After
    Before, During, After
    Richard Bausch
    978-0-307-27913-2
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 21, 2015
  • New American Stories
    New American Stories
    978-0-8041-7354-4
    $17.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 21, 2015
  • Park City
    Park City
    New and Selected Stories
    Ann Beattie
    978-1-101-97124-6
    $13.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Jul 15, 2015
  • Tigerman
    Tigerman
    Nick Harkaway
    978-0-8041-7066-6
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 23, 2015
  • The Dog
    The Dog
    A Novel
    Joseph O'Neill
    978-0-307-47294-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 09, 2015
  • The Girls from Corona del Mar
    The Girls from Corona del Mar
    Rufi Thorpe
    978-0-8041-7007-9
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 09, 2015
  • Leave Society
    Leave Society
    Tao Lin
    978-1-101-97447-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 03, 2021
  • The Knockout Queen
    The Knockout Queen
    A novel
    Rufi Thorpe
    978-0-525-56729-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 02, 2021
  • We Ride Upon Sticks
    We Ride Upon Sticks
    A Novel
    Quan Barry
    978-0-525-56543-7
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 16, 2021
  • Weather
    Weather
    Jenny Offill
    978-0-345-80690-1
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 19, 2021
  • The Resisters
    The Resisters
    A novel
    Gish Jen
    978-0-525-65722-4
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 12, 2021
  • The Red Lotus
    The Red Lotus
    A Novel
    Chris Bohjalian
    978-0-525-56596-3
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 05, 2021
  • The Queen's Gambit (Television Tie-in)
    The Queen's Gambit (Television Tie-in)
    Walter Tevis
    978-0-593-31465-4
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Dec 15, 2020
  • Interior Chinatown
    Interior Chinatown
    A Novel
    Charles Yu
    978-0-307-94847-2
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Nov 17, 2020
  • Sleep Donation
    Sleep Donation
    Karen Russell
    978-0-525-56608-3
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Sep 29, 2020
  • I Give It to You
    I Give It to You
    A Novel
    Valerie Martin
    978-0-385-54639-3
    $27.95 US
    Hardcover
    Nan A. Talese
    Aug 11, 2020
  • Middle England
    Middle England
    A novel
    Jonathan Coe
    978-0-525-56684-7
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 14, 2020
  • Everything Inside
    Everything Inside
    Stories
    Edwidge Danticat
    978-0-525-56305-1
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 07, 2020
  • The Flight Portfolio
    The Flight Portfolio
    A novel
    Julie Orringer
    978-0-307-94971-4
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 30, 2020
  • Water Witches
    Water Witches
    Chris Bohjalian
    978-0-593-08178-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 30, 2020
  • Very Nice
    Very Nice
    A novel
    Marcy Dermansky
    978-0-525-56522-2
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 09, 2020
  • Dual Citizens
    Dual Citizens
    A novel
    Alix Ohlin
    978-0-525-56355-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 19, 2020
  • The Body in Question
    The Body in Question
    A Novel
    Jill Ciment
    978-0-525-56537-6
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 19, 2020
  • Orange World and Other Stories
    Orange World and Other Stories
    Karen Russell
    978-0-525-56607-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 05, 2020
  • Lost and Wanted
    Lost and Wanted
    A novel
    Nell Freudenberger
    978-0-8041-7096-3
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 31, 2020
  • The River
    The River
    A novel
    Peter Heller
    978-0-525-56353-2
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 03, 2020
  • Goulash
    Goulash
    A Novel
    Brian Kimberling
    978-0-345-80337-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 21, 2020
  • The Stories of Alice Adams
    The Stories of Alice Adams
    Alice Adams
    978-1-9848-9811-1
    $18.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Nov 19, 2019
  • Old Newgate Road
    Old Newgate Road
    A novel
    Keith Scribner
    978-0-525-56346-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Oct 08, 2019
  • Notes from the Fog
    Notes from the Fog
    Ben Marcus
    978-1-101-97168-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 09, 2019
  • Red, White, Blue
    Red, White, Blue
    A novel
    Lea Carpenter
    978-0-525-43298-2
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 04, 2019
  • Good Trouble
    Good Trouble
    Stories
    Joseph O'Neill
    978-0-525-43664-5
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 14, 2019
  • Sociable
    Sociable
    Rebecca Harrington
    978-0-8041-7217-2
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 05, 2019
  • The Flight Attendant
    The Flight Attendant
    A Novel
    Chris Bohjalian
    978-0-525-43268-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 08, 2019
  • Cockfosters
    Cockfosters
    Stories
    Helen Simpson
    978-0-525-56362-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Sep 04, 2018
  • Gork, the Teenage Dragon
    Gork, the Teenage Dragon
    A Novel
    Gabe Hudson
    978-0-375-71341-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 26, 2018
  • The Misfortune of Marion Palm
    The Misfortune of Marion Palm
    A Novel
    Emily Culliton
    978-0-525-43262-3
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 26, 2018
  • Saints for All Occasions
    Saints for All Occasions
    A novel
    J. Courtney Sullivan
    978-0-307-94980-6
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 29, 2018
  • Sweetbitter (Movie Tie-In Edition)
    Sweetbitter (Movie Tie-In Edition)
    Stephanie Danler
    978-0-525-56482-9
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 24, 2018
  • Chemistry
    Chemistry
    A Novel
    Weike Wang
    978-0-525-43222-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 03, 2018
  • Trajectory
    Trajectory
    Stories
    Richard Russo
    978-1-101-97198-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 03, 2018
  • Living in the Weather of the World
    Living in the Weather of the World
    Stories
    Richard Bausch
    978-0-525-43185-5
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 20, 2018
  • The Delight of Being Ordinary
    The Delight of Being Ordinary
    A Road Trip with the Pope and the Dalai Lama
    Roland Merullo
    978-1-101-97079-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 06, 2018
  • White Tears
    White Tears
    A novel
    Hari Kunzru
    978-1-101-97321-9
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 06, 2018
  • The Girl at the Baggage Claim
    The Girl at the Baggage Claim
    Explaining the East-West Culture Gap
    Gish Jen
    978-1-101-97206-9
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 16, 2018
  • Celine
    Celine
    A novel
    Peter Heller
    978-1-101-97348-6
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 02, 2018
  • Signals
    Signals
    New and Selected Stories
    Tim Gautreaux
    978-1-101-97251-9
    $17.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Dec 12, 2017
  • The Sleepwalker
    The Sleepwalker
    A Novel
    Chris Bohjalian
    978-0-8041-7099-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Oct 03, 2017
  • A Gambler's Anatomy
    A Gambler's Anatomy
    A Novel
    Jonathan Lethem
    978-1-101-87367-0
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Sep 05, 2017
  • The Tragedy of Brady Sims
    The Tragedy of Brady Sims
    Ernest J. Gaines
    978-0-525-43446-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 29, 2017
  • Bridget Jones's Baby
    Bridget Jones's Baby
    The Diaries
    Helen Fielding
    978-0-525-43388-0
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 25, 2017
  • Attic
    Attic
    Katherine Dunn
    978-0-525-43406-1
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 11, 2017
  • How to Set a Fire and Why
    How to Set a Fire and Why
    A Novel
    Jesse Ball
    978-1-101-91175-4
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 13, 2017
  • Break in Case of Emergency
    Break in Case of Emergency
    A Novel
    Jessica Winter
    978-1-101-91193-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 13, 2017
  • The Hopefuls
    The Hopefuls
    Jennifer Close
    978-1-101-91145-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 30, 2017
  • Bright, Precious Days
    Bright, Precious Days
    A Novel
    Jay McInerney
    978-1-101-97226-7
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 30, 2017
  • This Must Be the Place
    This Must Be the Place
    Maggie O'Farrell
    978-0-345-80472-3
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 16, 2017
  • The Pier Falls
    The Pier Falls
    And Other Stories
    Mark Haddon
    978-1-101-97013-3
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    May 02, 2017
  • Dear Fang, With Love
    Dear Fang, With Love
    A Novel
    Rufi Thorpe
    978-1-101-91157-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 18, 2017
  • Sweetbitter
    Sweetbitter
    Stephanie Danler
    978-1-101-91186-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 04, 2017
  • Honeymoon and Other Stories
    Honeymoon and Other Stories
    Kevin Canty
    978-0-525-43504-4
    $11.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Feb 22, 2017
  • Before the Wind
    Before the Wind
    A Novel
    Jim Lynch
    978-0-307-94935-6
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 21, 2017
  • Burning Down the House
    Burning Down the House
    A Novel
    Jane Mendelsohn
    978-1-101-91119-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 21, 2017
  • The Bed Moved
    The Bed Moved
    Stories
    Rebecca Schiff
    978-1-101-91085-6
    $15.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 07, 2017
  • Everybody's Fool
    Everybody's Fool
    A Novel
    Richard Russo
    978-0-307-45482-9
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 24, 2017
  • The Guest Room
    The Guest Room
    Chris Bohjalian
    978-0-8041-7098-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Oct 25, 2016
  • The Mare
    The Mare
    A Novel
    Mary Gaitskill
    978-0-307-74360-2
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Oct 04, 2016
  • Sea Lovers
    Sea Lovers
    Selected Stories
    Valerie Martin
    978-0-307-73955-1
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 23, 2016
  • California Bloodstock
    California Bloodstock
    Terry McDonell
    978-0-525-43304-0
    $11.99 US
    Ebook
    Vintage
    Aug 17, 2016
  • The Visiting Privilege
    The Visiting Privilege
    New and Collected Stories
    Joy Williams
    978-1-101-87371-7
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Aug 09, 2016
  • The Captive Condition
    The Captive Condition
    A Novel
    Kevin P. Keating
    978-0-8041-6930-1
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jul 12, 2016
  • Days of Awe
    Days of Awe
    Lauren Fox
    978-0-307-38827-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 28, 2016
  • Our Souls at Night
    Our Souls at Night
    Kent Haruf, Alan Kent Haruf
    978-1-101-91192-1
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 28, 2016
  • The Jezebel Remedy
    The Jezebel Remedy
    Martin Clark
    978-0-8041-7290-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 14, 2016
  • A Cure for Suicide
    A Cure for Suicide
    A Novel
    Jesse Ball
    978-1-101-87213-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jun 14, 2016
  • A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me
    A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me
    Stories and a Novella
    David Gates
    978-0-8041-6874-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Apr 19, 2016
  • Act of God
    Act of God
    A Novel
    Jill Ciment
    978-0-8041-6970-7
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 22, 2016
  • Crow Fair
    Crow Fair
    Thomas McGuane
    978-0-345-80591-1
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 08, 2016
  • Voices in the Night
    Voices in the Night
    Steven Millhauser
    978-0-8041-6908-0
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Mar 08, 2016
  • She Weeps Each Time You're Born
    She Weeps Each Time You're Born
    Quan Barry
    978-0-8041-7130-4
    $17.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 23, 2016
  • There's Something I Want You to Do
    There's Something I Want You to Do
    Stories
    Charles Baxter
    978-0-8041-7273-8
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 23, 2016
  • Lucky Alan
    Lucky Alan
    and Other Stories
    Jonathan Lethem
    978-1-101-87366-3
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 23, 2016
  • The Tusk That Did the Damage
    The Tusk That Did the Damage
    Tania James
    978-0-8041-7343-8
    $16.95 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Feb 09, 2016
  • Single, Carefree, Mellow
    Single, Carefree, Mellow
    Katherine Heiny
    978-0-8041-7315-5
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Vintage
    Jan 26, 2016
  • The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe
    The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe
    Romain Puertolas
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