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Sebastian Ritscher
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THE VANISHING POINT

Elizabeth Brundage

At Rye Adler's funeral, they didn't bury his body -- or his rivalry: A gripping literary thriller by the author of the "wrenching and exhilarating" All Things Cease to Appear (Wall Street Journal)
Julian Ladd and Rye Adler cross paths as photography students in the exclusive Brodsky Workshop. When Rye needs a roommate, Julian moves in. Both men are fascinated with their classmate Magda, a talented and beautiful photographer of her Polish neighborhood's street scenes. Rye's nude photograph of Magda cements his reputation as the eye of his generation. Julian puts down his camera, defeated, and their three paths diverge.

After more than a decade photographing the human cost of foreign wars, Rye can't continue to justify holding the rest of humanity at arm's length. When an ex-lover re-enters his life, asking for help only he can give, Rye will enter a broken landscape of the street people and addicts, who were previously unseen, until his search for two missing boys becomes his own desperate fight to survive.

Thirty years after their workshop days, Julian sees Rye's obituary: the paper makes it sound like a suicide. Despite himself, Julian attends the funeral, where there is no casket and no body. This sudden reentry into a world he thought he left behind forces Julian to reckon with his morality and mortality, and question the very foundations of his life. In this eerie and evocative novel, Elizabeth Brundage establishes herself as one of the premiere authors of literary fiction at work today.

Elizabeth Brundage graduated from Hampshire College, attended the NYU film school, was a screenwriting fellow at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and received an MFA as well as a James Michener Award from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. She has taught at a variety of colleges and universities, most recently at Skidmore College, where she was visiting writer-in-residence. She is the author of All Things Cease to Appear, A Stranger Like You, Somebody Else's Daughter, and The Doctor's Wife. She lives near Albany in upstate New York.
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Published 2021-05-18 by Little Brown

Comments

Brundage observes [her characters'] lives and habits, motivations and mannerisms like a photographer herself, bringing them to full visual life. It is a story of the bonds of love and work and success and failure that is vibrant and not a little suspenseful.

An ambitious, literary novel, The Vanishing Point is distinguished by its characterizations, its pervasive air of melancholy, and its beautiful style. Not surprisingly, there is a great deal of thought-provoking attention given to the meaning and aesthetics of photography, and, like great photography, the novel is ultimately a work of memorable art.

France: Editions de la Table Ronde ; Italy: Bollato Bollinghieri ; Netherlands: Het Getij/Singel

A novel about what is seen, but also what remains unseen in our lives. The interplay between the two is what makes great photography, a great story, and what makes The Vanishing Point a beautiful work of art.

Elizabeth Brundage's The Vanishing Point proves that she's one of the very best novelists writing today. It touches on crises that are politically immediate, of the moment, from climate change to income inequality to drug addiction. But what's remarkable about the novel is that it reads like a thriller, without ever resorting to sensationalism, because it brings into the sharpest focus how precious this thing is called life.

Ms. Brundage has written another remarkable literary thriller... in this emotionally powerful work, [she] leads us to an unforgettable truth, through scenes of searing intensity and luminous prose.

In this dark-toned mystery, Brundage develops an engrossing story about a love triangle involving three photographers... The first half of the novel brilliantly dissects the competitive and erotic entanglements that mark the characters, and Brundage is particularly good at using photographic theory to describe how each sees the world.

A dark and moody literary mystery, centered on three photographers caught in a love triangle, Brundage's stylish novel probes the relentless demands of real-world problems on artists and their work. Read more...

This is one to savor... it's beautifully written. I didn't know about Elizabeth Brundage beforehand, I'm a huge fan now. I'm really excited about this book. Read more...

Watch Judy Clain (editor at LB) present the book briefly Read more...

Even though they haven't spoken in years, Julian drops everything to attend Rye's funeral, believing his old college chum has died by suicide. But when he discovers there's no body to bury, Julian is forced to reevaluate everything he knows about Rye and their mutual friend, Magda. Read more...