The Morels (ePub)

characters, Christopher Hacker has written a rollicking picnic for cynics." —Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route

"The Morels is a daring and dangerous novel about the dangers of writing—and perhaps reading—novels, its pages stuffed with love, pain, worry, movies, music, fresh-baked bread, daily life in the real Manhattan, family secrets and, dare I say it, big bold ideas." —David Gordon, author of The Serialist

"It's hard out there for sons and lovers in Christopher Hacker's accomplished debut, The Morels. To step into both this novel and the eponymous family it harbors is to peek into a house of mirrors that reminds us it can still be dangerous to write a novel, expose a strip of film to light—or make any kind of art, really. Hacker's splendid snapshot of a distinct cultural moment in the life of the American artist truly beguiles, and you're going to want to see how this multi-layered, flying-trapeze-routine of a story ends." —T. Cooper, author of Real Man Adventures

"Hacker's novel asks fundamental questions about imagination and art. . . . An unnerving and hugely satisfying novel, I hungrily read The Morels less for answers than for the pleasure of the messy and vital world Hacker creates.” —Victoria Redel, author of The Border of Truth

"A jarring New York story of a self conscious writer who desperately over-intellectualizes his home life in order to psychologically masticate personal demons with devastating results. Set in the gloaming of the 20th century, Hacker’s creation, Arthur Morel, is on a quest to prove art is not only vital but inextricably linked with reality." —Margarita Shalina, translator of The Duel by Anton Chekhov

“I could not stop reading this book, and it wasn’t because I was searching for some answer but rather I couldn’t wait to get to the next question." —Michael Seidenberg, Brazenhead Books

"The Morels is an accomplished and moving novel. It’s challenging, and not easy to talk about, but in the end, I fell in love with Hackers’ characters and was deeply touched by their story." —Cale Hand, The Strand Bookstore

“The Morels is always entertaining.” —The Wall Street Journal

"Ambitious, sincere. . . . An eloquent treatise on the rights of artists to exploit their personal histories—and why they do so, and at what cost." —Publishers Weekly

"Hacker is a fine writer. . . . The air of talent lingers on this debut." —Kirkus Reviews

"Hacker moves well beyond the realm of esoteric matters like truth and art and into the darker arena of human relationships and nurture vs. nature with prose that cuts through the intellectual meat to the bone, revealing the humanity of all involved, as deeply flawed as they might be." —The Gilmore Guide to Books