About the Book
A darkly comic, wildly original novel of a family in flight from the law, set in a near-future American dystopia.
In an America of the semi-distant future, human knowledge has reverted to a pre-Copernican state. Science and religion are diminished to fairy tales, and Earth once again occupies the lonely center of the universe, the stars and planets mere etchings on the glass globe that encases it. But when an ancient bunker containing a perfectly preserved space vehicle is discovered beneath the ruins of Cape Canaveral, it has the power to turn this retrograde world inside out.
Enter the miscreant Van Zandt clan, whose run-ins with the law leave them with a no-win choice: test-pilot the spacecraft together as a family, or be sent separately to prison for life. Their decision leads to some freakish slapstick, one nasty bonfire, and a dissolute trek across the ass-end of an all-too-familiar America.
As told to his daughter by Rowan, the Van Zandt son who flees the ashes of his family in search of a new one, the story is a darkly comic road trip that pits the simple hell of solitude against the messy consolations of togetherness.
Jeffrey Rotter's The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering is an indelible vision of a future in which we might one day live.
About the Author :
Jeffrey Rotter is the author of The Unknown Knowns, which was a New York Times Editor's Choice. His writing has appeared in The Oxford American, The New York Observer, McSweeney's, and elsewhere. He has assembled modular furnishings at NORAD, dressed up as Clifford the Big Red Dog for Texas school children, and written romance copy for flower-seed packets. He now resides in Brooklyn, New York, where he's edging ever closer to Green-Wood Cemetery and the eternal verdict of the earthworm.
Review :
Compelling... A humbling monument to the sorrow, and the power, of loneliness... But it's not a dour book, by any stretch. Rowan's voice is as unique as it is charismatic, a rough hewn mix of Southern drawl and precious wonder. And there's a vein of humor that runs through his narrative, dry yet unmistakable. NPR
A dark comedy, a clever, funny satire on the way reality is distorted by time and willful ignorance... Rotter's second novel is just as funny as his first (The Unknown Knowns), and -- in our own age of populist challenges to science -- just as topical. BookPage
Using lush, sensory language, Jeffrey Rotter manages to make his futuristic tale feel vividly present. At its core lies something timeless: a family whose bonds and struggles are riveting and poignant. Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad
Scary, hilarious, sweet, and forlorn. Jeffrey Rotter has fashioned a fresh take on the dystopian novel. The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering is full of strange worlds, mutated language, and genuine post-human, de-humanized human feeling. Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask
Like Vonnegut at his most tender, like Portis at his funniest, Jeffrey Rotter twists society as we know it into wild balloon-animal shapes, ones in which we may just recognize ourselves. The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering would be heartbreaking -- even devastating -- if it weren't so damn much fun to read. John Wray, author of Lowboy
The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering is one very funny book. More than that, it clearly establishes Jeffrey Rotter's voice as a unique and necessary part of the 21st century. Douglas Coupland, author of Worst. Person. Ever.
Rotter's seemingly effortless ability to marry the heartbreakingly authentic with the totally crazy makes The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering a rare display of talent reminiscent of Kafka's work. Etgar Keret, author of Suddenly, A Knock on the Door
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Compelling... A humbling monument to the sorrow, and the power, of loneliness... But it's not a dour book, by any stretch. Rowan's voice is as unique as it is charismatic, a rough hewn mix of Southern drawl and precious wonder. And there's a vein of humor that runs through his narrative, dry yet unmistakable. "NPR"
A dark comedy, a clever, funny satire on the way reality is distorted by time and willful ignorance... Rotter's second novel is just as funny as his first ("The Unknown Knowns"), and -- in our own age of populist challenges to science -- just as topical. "BookPage"
Using lush, sensory language, Jeffrey Rotter manages to make his futuristic tale feel vividly present. At its core lies something timeless: a family whose bonds and struggles are riveting and poignant. "Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad"
Scary, hilarious, sweet, and forlorn. Jeffrey Rotter has fashioned a fresh take on the dystopian novel. "The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering" is full of strange worlds, mutated language, and genuine post-human, de-humanized human feeling. "Sam Lipsyte, author of The Ask"
Like Vonnegut at his most tender, like Portis at his funniest, Jeffrey Rotter twists society as we know it into wild balloon-animal shapes, ones in which we may just recognize ourselves. "The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering" would be heartbreaking -- even devastating -- if it weren't so damn much fun to read. "John Wray, author of Lowboy"
"The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering" is one very funny book. More than that, it clearly establishes Jeffrey Rotter's voice as a unique and necessary part of the 21st century. "Douglas Coupland, author of Worst. Person. Ever."
Rotter's seemingly effortless ability to marry the heartbreakingly authentic with the totally crazy makes "The Only Words That Are Worth Remembering" a rare display of talent reminiscent of Kafka's work. "Etgar Keret, author of Suddenly, A Knock on the Door""
