Telephone: A Novel

Started this book thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed. Next thing I knew, I was side-eyeing my own mailbox and questioning reality. Everett doesn’t just blur the lines between storylines—he folds them into origami swans and sets them loose in your subconscious. Warning: may cause sudden existential dread, mild Googling of chess openings, and an urge to reread it immediately because... did that really just happen?

I enjoyed this sad and page turning novel. It really explores relationships and who we are within the context of our lives. It is a mystery to me why it is called 'Telephone'...it's about surviving and making decisions, for good or bad, within the context of absolute sadness and distress.

As almost always, Everett has written a book that is meaty, but goes down easy. His refusal to be pinned down writer- or genre-wise is rare and bracing and he loves to spin a good tale in a deceptively simple-seeming way that at some point will get turned on its head. "Telephone" is not to be missed. However - it has nothing to do with the instrument.

“Telephone”, by Percival Everett, has a unique first-person narrator in professor of geology Zach Wells. He seems to be a super-reliable narrator: self-aware, self-deprecating, factual but still in touch with his feelings. Wells adores his eleven-year-old daughter, Sarah; she is the person he loves most in this world. He and his wife, Meg, are together out of love for their daughter, not so much love for each other. But something really terrible happens to them all. A sub-plot involves Zach trying to rescue kidnapped Mexican woman. This book is heartbreaking, often funny, a thriller, and absolutely impossible to put down. There are three versions (A, B, and C - hence the title - like the game "telephone" where everyone hears something slightly different) that were published. I read version C. I have no idea how the other versions go, but I’m going to find out!

I enjoy this author's books. All his books are great reads.