The Familiar, Volume 2 - by Mark Z Danielewski (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Familiar, Volume 1 Wherein the cat is found . . .
The Familiar, Volume 2 Wherein the cat is hungry . . .

From the universally acclaimed, genre-busting author of House of Leaves comes the second volume of The Familiar, a "novel [which] goes beyond the experimental into the visionary, creating a language and style that expands the horizon of meaning . . . hint[ing] at an evolved form of literature."*

In The Familiar, Volume 2: Into the Forest, the lives of the disparate and dynamic nine characters introduced in "One Rainy Day in May" begin to intersect in inexplicable ways, finding harmonies and echoes in each other. What once seemed remote and disconnected draws closer--slowly, steadily--toward something inevitable. . . . At the center of it all is Xanther, a twelve-year-old girl, for whom the world around her seems to be opening, exposing doors and windows, visions and sounds, questions and ideas previously unknown. With each passing day, she begins to glimpse something she does not understand but unequivocally craves--the only thing that will bring her relief and keep her new friend alive.

(With full-color illustrations throughout.)

*Library Journal, starred review

THE FAMILIAR continues...

The Familiar Volume 3 Wherein the cat is blind . . .
The Familiar Volume 4 Wherein the cat is toothless . . .
The Familiar Volume 5 Wherein the cat is named . . .

Review Quotes

"Now we have Volume 2 (Chapter 2, really) and it is somehow, remarkably, amazingly, almost impossibly better. . . . I have never worried so much for a character as I did for [Xanther] in the final pages and, honest to God, I'm not even entirely sure what happened. Or to whom. Or how. But maybe Volume 3 will make it clear. Only six more months to wait. That ought to be just about enough time to recover, I figure, before The Familiar crawls into my lap and blows my mind all over again." --Jason Sheehan, NPR Books

"The series at times recalls Ulysses, Infinite Jest, and Cloud Atlas in its complexity, structure, and echoing parallel narratives . . . The literary world is stronger for having boundary pushers like Danielewski." --Ryan Vlastelica, The A.V. Club

"Volume 2 reads like a graphic novel with very few pictures, though the images are critical. The wide array of plotlines create disparate parts that are slowly converging, encoded as a codex, the decoding of which--what we loosely call reading--renders an open-ended experience. Highly recommended for the intrepid reader." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Readers with an interest in the latest in literary experimentalism will thrill at Danielewski's approach." --Kirkus Reviews

PRAISE FOR MARK Z. DANIELEWSKI:

"One of the most gifted and versatile writers of our time." --Steven Moore, The Washington Post

"His use of evocative typography--words that visually reinforce their meaning on the page--leaves readers dazzled." --Kim O'Connor, Slate

"You hold on for dear life by your fingertips, but the exertion is worth it when you finally get to the top and see the panorama of Danielewski's literary universe." --Dylan Foley, Chicago Tribune

About the Author