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The Parade

Dave Eggers author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Penguin Books Ltd

Published:5th Mar '20

Should be back in stock very soon

The Parade cover

From the best-selling author of The Circle, a powerful modern fable on the legacy of colonialism, the dark power of global corporations, and the challenge of truly 'doing good'.

From the bestselling author of The Circle and The Monk of Mokha comes a taut, suspenseful story of two foreigners' role in a nation's fragile peace.

'Tightly written, carefully designed to wrong-foot preconceptions, and astute . . . An intensely gripping story' Evening Standard

An unnamed country is leaving the darkness of a decade at war, and to commemorate the armistice the government commissions a new road connecting two halves of the state.

Two men, foreign contractors from the same company, are sent to finish the highway. While one is flighty and adventurous, wanting to experience the nightlife and people, the other wants only to do the work and go home. But both men must eventually face the absurdities of their positions, and the dire consequences of their presence.

With echoes of J. M. Coetzee and Graham Greene, this timeless novel questions whether we can ever understand another nation's war, and what role we have in forging anyone's peace.

'Certainly his best book since What is the What... The sound of a major writer finding his mature voice' Spectator

Tightly written, carefully designed to wrong-foot preconceptions, and astute... An intensely gripping story * Evening Standard *
Certainly his best book since What is the What, The Parade may well be the sound of a major writer finding his mature voice * Spectator *
A parable of progress, as told by J.M. Coetzee to Philip K. Dick -- Richard Flanagan
The Parade is a heartbreaker and a mindbender. It is a novel of ideas that packs an emotional punch that left me reeling. With clear, unadorned prose, Eggers lays bare the costs of war, and of peace -- Tayari Jones
A readable, atmospheric book * The Times *
This is a tale for our time, an allegory about intervening in foreign lands without knowledge, and so a nightmare vision of our endless wars. -- Thomas E. Ricks
In The Parade, the anxiety grows with every page and every mile to reach an ending that turns everything upside down and sends us into the heart of darkness. A minimalistic, merciless novel. A powerful allegory and a painfully concrete contemporary story-Eggers is a true virtuoso of that synthesis. -- Georgi Gospodinov
Wide-ranging and thoughtful engagement with concepts of power and inequality and whether Western notions of what constitutes 'progress' are always right * Literary Review *
It partakes of a complex of anxieties about America's role as an affluent superpower of dubious virtue * Financial Times *
Egger's commitment to social and political issues continues * Mail on Sunday *

ISBN: 9780241986271

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 12mm

Weight: 140g

192 pages