Review:
Nicole Krauss's elegant, haunting debut, Man Walks into a Room, is a what-if novel. What if, asks Krauss, a man woke up one day and he'd forgotten everything he knows? Samson Greene is found lost in the desert near Las Vegas, memory-less thanks to a tumor "applying its arbitrary, pernicious pressure to his brain." Once the tumor is removed, he can remember his childhood up until his 12th year, but then all is blank. He returns to New York, to his wife Anna, to his life as a Columbia University English professor, but none of these things makes sense to him anymore: "Samson could dredge up no feeling for his own life but that of vague admiration." When he receives a call from a mysterious scientist inviting him back to the desert for a sinister-sounding memory experiment, Samson heads West with a kind of despondent fatalism. Krauss's novel moves gracefully from exploration of a lost soul to science fiction to a meditation on memory. If the book unravels a bit at the end, it's only because Krauss is trying to do too much--certainly no literary sin. --Claire Dederer
From the Back Cover:
“Casually dazzling . . . thoroughly riveting. (A)” --Entertainment Weekly
“[M]ysterious and compelling. . . . Krauss brings to her work a poet’s gift for seizing upon small but potent details. . . . [A] novel that . . . is hard to forget.” --Los Angeles Times Book Review
“By turns creepy, witty, austere, and vibey. . . . A major contribution to the art of collective obliviousness, a lonely meditation on the nature of memory and loss.” --Esquire
“[G]reat nuance and sophisticated prose that seduces you with its cadences. . . . You’ll savor the last page—and be hungry for future work from this talented author.” --The Washington Post Book World
“A provocative first novel. . .beautifully written, intellectually engaging. . .Krauss has a remarkable feel for what is ultimately unfathomable.”–Chicago Tribune
"[A] deft comedy of unfamiliarity... [A] lucid consideration of the metaphysics of mind-shuffling... Krauss celebrates the anything-but-simple art of human connection." –San Francisco Chronicle
“A meditative debut novel about the pleasures and dangers of forgetting. . .a chilling addition to the annals of amnesia lit." –The Village Voice
“A deeply philosophical novel, one that strikes upon the nagging paradoxes of modern life. . .With the character of Samson Greene, Nicole Krauss puts a human face on these concerns, and–in prose that shimmers with intelligence–tells us his potent and memorable story.” –The Sun-Sentinel
“Krauss’s work is both dreamy and precise, direct and mysterious, like a more austere Ellen Gilchrist or Ian McEwan.” –Bookforum
“Memory and the ramifications of losing it are explored with all the precision of a CAT scan. . . . Charges bravely into a tangle of difficult questions.” –San Diego Union-Tribune
“An evocative, finely written first novel that is a true work of fiction.” –A.M. Homes
“Unique. . . . Intriguing. . . . It is impossible to read this book without wondering what you would do in the same situation; that reason alone is enough to pick it up.” –The Denver Post
“Ambitious, cohesive, intelligent, precise and accomplished. . . . Remarkably fresh. . . . Everything in this novel works.” –The Raleigh News & Observer
“An incisive novel of self-invention.” –Details
“A sharp, impressive first novel that leaves one looking forward to her next outing.” –Santa Fe New Mexican
“Nicole Krauss, with this remarkably felt, sharp-witted debut novel, strides into the forecourt of American letters.” –Susan Sontag
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.