The Half-Life: A Novel

By Jonathan Raymond

Book Overview

A dazzling debut novel about two friendships separated by generations but bound together by a dark mystery. Cookie Figowitz is the cook for a party of volatile fur trappers trekking through the Oregon... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582344485
• ISBN13: 9781582344485
• Release Date: May 2004
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 355 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A gorgeous and vivid debut Novel!

This novel is so rich and so full of beauty I don't even know where to begin. I'll start my saying that Raymond has mastered the English language. I found myself reading and re-reading the same line over and over again sometimes not being able to continue the book until the poetry of a certain line would sink in. Raymond uses even the simplest phrases in the most elegant ways and I found myself recalling his exact words days and even weeks after reading them. OK, three words... location, location, location! Raymond uses such incredibly beautiful descriptions. The setting comes alive in this novel like no other book I've ever read. As a reader you feel it, you hear it, you smell it and you taste it as if you're there. I am in awe that this is a debut novel. After reading the first few chapters I had to look Raymond up to see if he wasn't some famous naturalist. I felt as if I was reading the journal of an early scientist exploring the Northwest Territory. It seems that Mr. Raymond knows every bird, plant, weed and stone in Oregon by name and yet he describes them to the reader in almost childlike simplicity. My theory has always been that if someone really knows something well, then they can describe it and make it understood even to a child. To me, Raymond knows Oregon like the back of his hand and I used to live there. They should make this novel mandatory reading for all Pacific Northwesterners so they can appreciate the beauty and the mystery of the region. Then there's the cooking... Did you ever see the movie "Like Water for Chocolate"? I felt like I was reading a written sequel. I must have gained five pounds just reading it. The cooking scenes are fantastic and made my mouth water and my eyes burn. Besides all that, the novel is haunting. I have no idea what the reviewers below are talking about by "lack of character development". Did we read the same book? Did you get through the first two pages or did your short little attention span get the better of you again? This novel is packed full of the most incredible characters. Simple, yet profound Neil, volatile Trixie Voltera, Tina the lost girl, the young romantic dreamer Henry, the serious and mysterious King Lu and Cookie! What about Cookie? Seriously, were you reading the same book as me? Cookie is the first time since reading "Giovann's Room" that I absolutely fell in love with a character! This is possibly the gentlest and most Zen character ever written! OK, then the ending. First let me say that I love David Mitchell, but I get down on him for always wrapping his books into neat little packages in the end. Sorry David, but that's not doing it for me. Life is complex and so is "The Half Life". It always seems to me like Mitchell is trying to be Murakami in a way but with happy endings. Raymond perfectly captures the complexities of life and the struggle we all share for closeness and contact but to me it appears as if he wasn't even trying which is a sure sign that he was. The b

A Page-Turner

As an Oregonian who loves regional fiction, I was a little worried. Usually, when a novel is descibed in terms like, "It's the story of friendship..." it is one of those over-wrought, over-written books that don't ever tell a story. Happily, my worries were wrong. This book is a page-turner. I cared about the characters, where they went, and what happened to them. I couldn't put it down until I came to the end. Yes, it's a novel about friendship. But it's a real yarn of two times, drawn together by place. It's funny and fun, and it's sad, and it's thought-provoking. If you want to curl up with a good book that you'll enjoy -- and learn a little about Oregon, and a lot about interesting characters -- get this book. You'll love it.

New American Classic

"The Half Life" is hands down the best book I've read since Plainsong. Raymond's language is both simple and startingly beautiful as he tells the story of Tina, Trixie, Cookie and King Lu. This impressive debut is well written, especially page 353 which contains, in my opinion, some of the finest heartfelt writing since William Maxwell's "They Came Like Swallows". Do yourself a favor and pick this one up. "The Half Life" deserves a wide audience. It's not flashy or glamorous, but it's very stong stuff just the same. I'm hoping the National Book Awards will reward Raymond with a nomination for this masterpiece that adds to the legacy of fine American literature.

Next great novelist named Jonathan from Brooklyn!

Move over Lethem and Safron Foer, there's a new Jon in town, and he's made the scene like gangbusters with warrants. This is a sweet, smart debut, which flirts with epistemological questions about the nature of history and our place within (or outside) it, as well as a gentle-handed social satire (involving the rival factions vying for the discovered skeletons, and the subsequent media barrage that follows.) But ultimately, it's a story with a very human center, about three tightly-knit relationships spanning hundreds of years. It's this humanity that Raymond pulls off with aplomb, as the relationships are beautifully and delicately realized, without undue sentimentality or goo. (Yes, all the goo is due.)I highly recommend it!

Jonathan Raymond achieves greatness with first novel

This is one of the best books of the year! Everyone should read this novel. Get taken away with the characters over the span of almost 100 years. This book made me nostaglic for the Pacific Northwest and I've never lived there.