The Other Side of the World. Jay Neugeboren

"Epic… The Other Side of the World can charm you with its grace, intelligence and scope… [An] inventive novel."—Mark Athitakis, The Washington Post Charlie is a journeyman whose friend Nick convinces him to move to Singapore, where he falls in love with the vibrant and endangered world of nearby Borneo. One night, during a fight at a cocktail party in Singapore, Nick dies mysteriously, prompting Charlie to return to New England where he discovers that a former student has moved in with his father, Max, a former professor and source of unlimited sage expressions. Seana is a wildly successful and provocative writer who is equally wild and provocative in life. Together, she and Charlie set out on a road trip of resolution where «weird things happen if you make room for them.» From the lush forests of Borneo to coastal Maine, The Other Side of the World is a grand, episodic novel and another virtuosic performance by one of America’s most revered living writers. Jay Neugeboren is the author, most recently, of the novel 1940, and collection You Are My Heart and Other Stories. His previous novels have received the American Jewish Committee Award and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award. His stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic, Tikkun, GQ, Newsweek, The New York Times, and The New York Review of Books. He was the writer-in-residence for many years at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and currently lives in New York City.