Chatter: A Novel

By Perrin Ireland

Michael and Sarah's marriage is already in trouble. But the revelation that Michael has a daughter he's never mentioned--and only just met--pushes their relationship to the breaking point. His secrecy about the past, his compulsion to visit his ex-lover, and the sudden presence of his beautiful, grown daughter in their lives drives Sarah to search for the truth--a search that takes her from Washington, D.C., to Latin America. Chatter is a snapshot of a marriage taken against the landscape of our frenetic culture, where invasive news reports, overheard conversations, and screaming headlines punctuate our days. Its dead-on dialogue captures the collapse of communication and the tension created when discussions go unfinished and questions go unanswered. Balancing humor and terror, Ireland brilliantly depicts the elusiveness of security--globally and in our own homes--and the longing to find that safe place in a loved one's arms.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565125401
• ISBN13: 9781565125407
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Algonquin Books
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.7" x 0.9" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

highly recommended

Chatter has earned its critical plaudits; the novel is well-crafted, humorous, and spare (think Lorrie Moore or Amy Hempel) with a style matching its subject matter--the cacophony of information bombarding us in contemporary life. On another level, the book is a love story, with much to say about marriage, stepfamilies, and friendship, with a dash of politics and global entanglement. A book of strong literary quality (recently singled out for praise by noted librarian and radio commentator Nancy Pearl). Refreshingly unconventional, in a world where original voices have a harder and harder time competing with more formulaic works

Boston Globe and NY Times Reviews

Boston Globe-- " . . . the novel's touch is light, the dialogue funny. Still, the novel is more than merely clever. Ireland treats her characters with tenderness, portraying how they experience the world, and ultimately holding out a note of hope. She wrings meaning from the slightest of gestures . . . Sarah wins our sympathy, as an everywoman seseking, against the odds, a place of safety and comfort." New York Times Book Review-- " . . . this humor-terror nexus that Ireland so charmingly brings to life."

Fresh and fast-paced

She's done it again. As in her first novel, Ana Imagined, Ireland's airy writing style is both vivid and thought-provoking. I want to read it again to see what nuggets I may have missed the first time. I found myself laughing out loud at the disjointed and realistic communication between Michael and Sarah. She expertly captures casual banter between husband and wife in a way I've never seen. It provides comic relief against Sarah's insecurities over her husband's past and her sorrow over her ailing friend.

A witty page-turner

Chatter is a fresh, surprising, inventive page-turner, with witty observations about contemporary life and relationships alternating with darker reflections on politics, morality, and man's inhumanity to man. Terrorist chatter, echoes from the past, overheard conversations, and random bits from TVs and cellphones penetrate Sarah's mind; the swirling (and sometimes hilarious) stream of her consciousness gives us a prickly, smart, sensitive woman coping with a marital crisis in which the mysterious past comes home to roost. The book's got plot, style, sophistication, and class; it's very funny, and also deeply poignant. I loved it.

Literary Fiction

This is an intelligent, compelling, affecting novel, which is, concurrently, wildly funny. Covering issues far beyond marriage and adultery and the complexities of family and friendship, it explores issues of international import. Joan Didion meets Woody Allen.