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Overview
From a rising literary star “in the tradition of Carol Shields and A. S. Byatt” comes this luminous story of a contemporary man’s metamorphosis.
Andrea Barrett and Michael Cunningham have lauded Stacey D’Erasmo for the beauty of her language and her ability to create worlds that leave a lasting impression. In her new novel, D’Erasmo reaches back to Ovid for inspiration in this tale of how the mythic animates our everyday lives. At thirty-seven, Gabriel Collins works halfheartedly as an obituary writer at a fading newspaper in lower Manhattan, which, since 9/11, feels like a city of the dead. This once dreamy and appealing boy has turned from a rebellious adolescent to an adult who trades in petty crimes.His wealthy, older boyfriend is indulgent of him—to a point. But after a brush with his own mortality, Gabriel must flee to Mexico in order to put himself back together. By novel’s end, we know all of Gabriel’s ratty little secrets, but by dint of D’Erasmo’s spectacular writing, we exult in the story of an imperfect man who—tested by a world that is often too much for him—rises to meet the challenge.
Synopsis
“D’Erasmo moves to the top of her craft with The Sky Below,” said Town and Country, and many others have joined the chorus of critical acclaim for her newest novel, in part inspired by Ovid, which illuminates the myths that underlie our everyday lives.
At thirty-seven, Gabriel Collins works halfheartedly as an obituary writer at a fading newspaper in lower Manhattan, which, since 9/11, feels like a city of the dead. This once dreamy and appealing boy has turned from a rebellious adolescent to an adult who trades in petty crimes. His wealthy, older boyfriend is indulgent of him—to a point. But after a brush with his own mortality, Gabriel must flee to Mexico in order to put himself back together. By the novel’s end, we know all of Gabriel’s ratty little secrets, but by dint of D’Erasmo’s spectacular writing, we exult in the story of an imperfect man who—tested by a world that is often too much for him—rises to meet the challenge.
The New York Times - Susann Cokal
All the same, it's hard not to be seduced by this willfully selfish man, D'Erasmo's most complex and accomplished character to date… Gabriel may not be a great person, but in his hunger for expression, for a father, for a home, he embodies the deep yearnings and sense of entrapment that can make anyone act badly…Vibrant and precise, his storytelling is memorable not so much for its individual phrases (though plenty are exquisite) as for its overall sense of immersion into a distinctive world.
Editorials
Los Angeles Times
Not about dissolution but redemption—a revolutionary concept...The Sky Below could be [D'Erasmo's] breakthrough, a book that moves back and forth between the real world and the elaborate layers of its characters' inner life.San Francisco Chronicle
A beautifully written compilation of the small, strange specificities that make us each uniquely human...D'Erasmo's fluidity of writing style amplifies credibility and cohesiveness. There's no question that she can write, and that is ultimately what lets "The Sky Below" do as much as it doesFrom the Publisher
"In her conceptually brilliant, imaginative, brimming and suspenseful novel, her evocations of place are ravishing; her characters are at once richly human and magical, and their confounding predicaments are both commonplace and cosmic."—Los Angeles Times" ...studded throughout are ringingly memorable lines, ones that make you see, hear, feel."—Boston Globe
"A beautifully written compilation of the small, strange specificities that make us each uniquely human."—Margot Kaminski, San Francisco Chronicle
"D’Erasmo’s most complex and accomplished character to date...Gabriel’s voice is irresistible."—New York Times Book Review (cover review)
"Intricately imagined and economically told, D'Erasmo's riddling third novel made me want to start over as soon as I reached the last page."—Bloomberg News
"THE SKY BELOW gathers narrative force as Gabe's tale becomes stranger, and as the cruel mingles with the tender in a way that startles and abrades. Cather, I think, would have been shocked and intrigued by this accomplished book."—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
"D'Erasmo writes beautifully, her sentences urgent, whispery, holding their breath as Gabe does, waiting for magic."—The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis)
"Part magical realism and part acid trip, The Sky Below is the stuff that dreams are made of."—Zink Magazine
"Rich in detail, with expertly spun sentences, this is a novel for connoisseurs of words."—Elle
"After two earlier, likable efforts, D'Erasmo moves to the top of her craft with THE SKY BELOW—She is an expert at listening to human nature."—Town & Country
"Stacey D'Erasmo has made a name for herself as a serious prose artist who describes tilted people with a level gaze."—Newsday
"Gabe’s story is both plausible and fantastic; even when reality is stretched thread-thin, it’s engaging, thanks to Stacey D’Erasmo’s prose, which manages to be both elegant and economical."—New York Observer
"Hard-nosed but lyrical, unsentimental but moving, mythical but modern, The Sky Below is a precisely calibrated balancing act. It tells the story of a man who must stop living in a fantasy world, yet it never loses touch with the value of art and magic."—Time Out New York
"…could be her breakthrough, a book that moves back and forth between the real world and the elaborate layers of its characters' inner life."—Los Angeles Times
"...you can feel D’Erasmo’s maturity and intelligence in this textured and vivid portrait of contemporary life."—The Advocate
"...full of brilliant, uncanny elements that intersect in ways both puzzling and true."—Bookforum
Susann Cokal
All the same, it's hard not to be seduced by this willfully selfish man, D'Erasmo's most complex and accomplished character to date… Gabriel may not be a great person, but in his hunger for expression, for a father, for a home, he embodies the deep yearnings and sense of entrapment that can make anyone act badly…Vibrant and precise, his storytelling is memorable not so much for its individual phrases (though plenty are exquisite) as for its overall sense of immersion into a distinctive world.—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
A luminous novel crafted in meticulous detail with shimmering language, D'Erasmo's third book tells the story of Gabriel Callahan's life, beginning with his father's abandonment when Gabriel was a child and tracing his ambivalent search for wholeness through adolescence and into adulthood. An obituary writer for a "half-assed tourist newspaper" in post-9/11 Manhattan, Gabriel is also an artist, creating still lifes from found and stolen objects. Gabriel's lover, Janos, a wealthy financier, hopes that Gabriel will abandon his marginal life and move in with him, but Gabriel steadfastly refuses, even when a health crisis threatens to undo him. An impulsive trip to Mexico leads him to a hardscrabble commune where he finds a belated clarity. The descriptions of Gabriel's artwork and his daily struggles comprise a dizzying trip through metaphor and expression, the undisputed centerpiece of which is the dazzling, complicated narration in vivid prose. This is a demanding and immensely satisfying novel, and certainly one of the better New York artist novels in recent memory. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Library Journal
We first meet young Gabriel when his joys are few: playing make-believe with his older sister; creating art with his mother; building miniature cities out of Christmas boxes that cover the house. When his father abandons the family, however, Gabriel's world falls apart. His mother moves them to a dismal motel in Florida, and Gabriel grows up dealing drugs and turning tricks in men's restrooms. This reviewer wishes she could report that Gabriel's life improves as he gets older; instead, he works a dead-end job writing obituaries and dates an older man he doesn't love while he debates his meaningless life. This depressing story starts off promisingly, but several odd plot devices like a mysterious terminal illness and a tacked-on extended stay at a Mexican commune leave the reader with the disheartening feeling that if Gabriel doesn't care about himself, Why should we? Despite D'Erasmo's dexterity of language and approachable writing style, the double whammy of unlikable characters and an unruly plot makes it a forgettable reading experience.
—Kellie Gillespie