Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
I Am Radar
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
11 posts | 9 read | 26 to read
The Washington Post"[G]randly ambitious... another masterpiece... this genre includes some of the greatest novels of our time, from Pynchons V. to David Foster Wallaces Infinite Jest. Thats the troupe Larsen has decided to join, and I Am Radar is a dazzling performance."The moment just before Radar Radmanovic is born, all of the hospitals electricity mysteriously fails. The delivery takes place in total darkness. Lights back on, the staff sees a healthy baby boywith pitch-black skinborn to the stunned white parents. No one understands the uncanny electrical event or the unexpected skin color. A childbirth is an explosion, the ancient physician says by way of explanation. Some shrapnel is inevitable, isnt it?A kaleidoscopic novel both heartbreaking and dazzling, Reif Larsens I Am Radar begins with Radars perplexing birth but rapidly explodes outward, carrying readers across the globe and throughout history, as well as to unknown regions where radio waves and subatomic particles dance to their own design. Spanning this extraordinary range with grace and empathy, humor and courage, I Am Radar is the vessel where a century of conflict and art unite in a mesmerizing narrative whole.Deep in arctic Norway, a cadre of Norwegian schoolteachers is imprisoned during the Second World War. Founding a radical secret society that will hover on the margins of recorded history for decades to come, these schoolteachers steal radioactive material from a hidden Nazi nuclear reactor and use it to stage a surreal art performance on a frozen coastline. This strange society appears again in the aftermath of Cambodias murderous Khmer Rouge regime, when another secret performance takes place but goes horrifically wrong. Echoes of this disaster can be heard during the Yugoslavian wars, when an avant-garde puppeteer finds himself trapped inside Belgrade while his brother serves in the genocidal militia that attacks Srebrenica. Decades later, in the war-torn Congo, a disfigured literature professor assembles the largest library in the world even as the country around him collapses. All of these stories are linked by Radarnow a gifted radio operator living in the New Jersey Meadowlandswho struggles with love, a set of hapless parents,and a terrible medical affliction that he has only just begun to comprehend.As I Am Radar accelerates toward its unforgettable conclusion, these divergent strands slowly begin to converge, revealing that beneath our apparent differences, unseen harmonies secretly unite our lives. Drawing on the furthest reaches of quantum physics, forgotten history, and mind-bending art, Larsens I Am Radar is a triumph of storytelling at its most primal, elegant, and epic: a breathtaking journey through humanitys darkest hours only to arrive at a place of shocking wonder and redemption.Cleveland Plain-Dealer"Larsens is an extraordinarily lush and verdant imagination, blooming wildly on the borders of the absurd and the riotous, the surreal and the ordinaryQuite unlike any [novel] Ive read in a long time. One doesnt consume it; one enters it, as part of a literary enactment BrilliantThe effort is well-rewarded: It is both maddening and marvelousI cant wait to see what he pulls off next."From the Hardcover edition.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
Caffeinated_Reader
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

#103 of my year. I have seen a few reviews online about this one and am really excited to see what I think lol Listening to Forever (feat. Post Malone & Clever)Justin Bieber ♥️ outside time because it‘s finally cool enough, my boys and I are doing rain dances and constantly sending up rain prayers to the sky‘s hoping it can help the fires. This year just has to get better, it just has to 🌻🌨

Caffeinated_Reader Holy hell. That was the strangest and most interesting story I‘ve read, similar to House of Leaves. It was bizarre and uncomfortable at first, I had so much hate for Charlene because of what she did to Radar and after she finally came clean about it I just felt so bad for everyone. 4y
Caffeinated_Reader She set into motion so much insanity just with one choice, she couldn‘t possibly know things would end up the way they did but for me it felt like had she not chose to fly out & have Radar “cured” then Kermin wouldn‘t have had to build what he did and go down that path. It‘s hard trying to explain without giving away the story lol anyways I liked it. It was smart and intriguing and insane and bizarre and just totally worth the read. 4y
12 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Caffeinated_Reader
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

Got half of my order shipment in from Thriftbooks when I went on a Harlan Coben book buying binge lol I‘ve been having fun reading thrillers again after so long on a Fantasy/YA reading binge. However, the next book I want to read is this one, I seen someone posted about it online and loved the cover lol the second half of my Coben books should be here tomorrow 🥳

blurb
Lilitherat
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

Current mood, obsessed with this book!

MrBook 😁👍🏻 8y
21 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
Lilitherat
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

Randomly picked up this book because I liked the cover and I love, love, LOVE it so far! The story keeps moving in unpredictable directions and the prose is just enchanting 💖📚

Pat_E_Cakes That was the same reason why I picked up Larsen's other book - the very fetching cover. I loved The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet. Very happy to see he has another one out. 7y
Lilitherat I've been meaning to pick up that one when I come across a copy! 7y
19 likes3 stack adds2 comments
blurb
PNWBookseller85
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

#tbrtuesday

Just a somewhat reasonable TBR pile. My actual TBR stack hits the ceiling.

[DELETED] 2232195534 Um, mine would likely fill a room. Like all of it. 😂 8y
PrezBookster Discovery of Witches trilogy is SOOO good!! 8y
See All 11 Comments
BookHermit Loved A Tale for the Time Being! 8y
Jilanna I loved ATFTB too! 8y
ImaginativeMom Discovery of Witches!! I've given away so many copies of that book because everyone needs to read it. 😊 8y
PurpleyPumpkin You are not alone!😧 8y
PNWBookseller85 @PurpleyPumpkin right!? I used to read all the time before I had kids. It's such a luxury, really. 8y
Bookbeez Loved Tale for a Time Being. Beautifully written book. 8y
Sarah1960 A Discovery of Witches was a great read! 8y
flyfarther79 My TBR is huge too. I tell myself to stop buying books and/ to cancel Scribd. Never gonna happen 😳 8y
101 likes1 stack add11 comments
blurb
TheLondonBookworm
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

Nice little stack from my library and charity shop book haul this morning 😊😊 yay book shopping!!!!!

Owlizabeth Oooh good stack!! 8y
Hooked_on_books The Circle is so good! 8y
SharonGoforth I liked A Burnable Book😊 8y
TheLondonBookworm @Owlizabeth @Hooked__on__books @SharonGoforth Ooh good! They were random picks from the charity shop so it's great to hear good things 😊😊 8y
49 likes1 stack add4 comments
blurb
WanderingBookaneer
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

I'm intrigued.

Owlizabeth I was a big fan. Larsen's prose kills me in the best way. 8y
26 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
capriciousreader
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

50 pages in means I (cautiously) think it's sticking! (Also, I'm butt-crazy in love with this cover.)

Literati86 "Butt crazy" ? 8y
25 likes3 stack adds1 comment
quote
Rachel
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image

I bought this, just for the first line.

LitHousewife I need to know what happened!!!! 8y
shawnmooney Me too! 8y
DanaStaves Good call! 8y
24 likes5 stack adds3 comments
review
Rick_Eaglestone
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image
Mehso-so
review
autumnprivett
I Am Radar: A Novel | Reif Larsen
post image
Mehso-so

I adored parts of this book, which centers on an avant-garde performance troupe, but it is way too long.

Out in paperback now with an awesome new cover.
⭐️⭐️⭐️