{"product_id":"benchere-in-wonderland-isbn-9780990437055","title":"Benchere in Wonderland","description":"What is the role of art in the world? And what is the responsibility of the artist? After the death of his wife, Michael Benchere, a well-respected sculptor and once-famous architect, looks for ways to redefine the meaning of his life through the purpose of his art. Determined to create a sculpture that celebrates nothing more than the pure beauty of art, Benchere heads into the Kalahari desert where he is followed quite unexpectedly by a ragtag mix of people. Over the course of his months in the desert, Benchere must address not only the relationship of his art to the world at large, but his own relationship to the world and how our responsibilities, our loves and dreams don’t ever fade in time but, in effect, become evermore defined.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Rumpus \u003c\/i\u003eBook Club Pick\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This writer clearly knows how to tell a complex story, in a way no one can learn in a writing workshop . . . \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e is a large book, a meaningful book, its story told by a masterful storyteller.\" —Conrad Geller, \u003ci\u003eLost Coast Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gillis keeps it tight, focusing on Benchere who is engagingly free of self-importance and hard not to love . . . Gillis also writes with economy and verve, a bit the way Benchere makes his art. This is a book with a message—and in a world where a Picasso can sell for 179 million dollars it’s a message worth thinking about—but one delivered with lightness and impeccable flair.\" —Cath Murphy, \u003ci\u003eLitReactor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Every now and then I get ahold of a book that makes the reading experience just a little bit more special . . . I loved the book. The core of\u003ci\u003e Benchere in Wonderland \u003c\/i\u003eis ideas and ideals, art and the man, and the human nature brew of shit happening, whether instigated or not, but sometimes it’s our actions that start the landslide.\" —Laura J.W. Ryan, \u003ci\u003eUpstate Girl\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Art and the role of the artist in society meet with African politics and exploitation in this meditation on action and consequences. With Benchere’s emotional sphere in a state of flux, it becomes clear that his artistic and political views give him stability; his hardheadedness on these issues help him hold on to his sanity . . . Gillis also sets up a conversation about art and the artist’s role (or lack thereof) in political conversations. Should art’s influence be removed from politics—can it be? Equal parts adventure, sociopolitical critique, love story, and emotional exploration, \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e is a meditation on the fact that ‘all actions have consequences,’ whether immediately predictable or not.\" —Genevieve Shifke Ali, \u003ci\u003eForeword Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e(5 star review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Plaudits are due for Gillis's brilliant fifth novel, an ambitious treatise on the role of art and the artist in modern day society. The author has an uncanny knack for depicting the best and worst of humankind . . . Gillis's novel carefully examines the fallibility and resolve of the artist, the myriad repercussions that art can have, and the different ramifications of political art and art created merely for the sake of art—if there can be such a thing.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Steven Gillis has created an indelible character in Benchere and let him loose in a slyly subversive wonderland of art, violence, love, grief, greed, and grand ideals. At once magnificently strange and achingly intimate, Gillis’ novel lingers and burns long after the covers are shut.\" —Dawn Raffel, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life of Objects\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Steven Gillis’s latest novel once again reminds us that he is not only a master storyteller able to conjure up narrative magic, but it’s his lyrical voice throughout the narrative that’s capable of finding the poetry in the most unlikely places that makes him the 21st century heir to Saul Bellow, John Cheever, and Stanley Elkin. When you mix Gillis’s sad, beaten lyricism with his continual explosions of narrative surprise, the result is a glorious, tense luminosity that makes \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland \u003c\/i\u003ehis best book yet, a satisfying and deeply moving read.\" —Richard Grayson, author of \u003ci\u003eWinter in Brooklyn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Steven Gillis’s new novel \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e is not quite like anything else I’ve ever read. Surprising, arresting, and electric, it kept me up a couple of nights in a row. This author has a voice all his own, and it’s one I won’t forget. \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e is that rare thing—an original novel.\" —Steve Yarbrough, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Realm of Last Chances\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Steven Gillis’s latest novel, \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e, takes readers into the Kalahari Desert and embroils them in the stormy clash of art and commerce, politics and aesthetics, ideas, ideals, and the chaos of the human heart. Anyone who has ever worried over the troubled relationship between art and the world will want to read this compelling novel.\" —Ed Falco, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Family Corleone\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eSTEVEN GILLIS\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the novels \u003ci\u003eWalter Falls\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Weight of Nothing\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTemporary People\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Consequence of Skating\u003c\/i\u003e, along with \u003ci\u003eBenchere in Wonderland\u003c\/i\u003e (Hawthorne Books, 2015) as well as the short story collections \u003ci\u003eGiraffes\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Law of Strings\u003c\/i\u003e. A three-year member of the Ann Arbor Book Festival Board of Directors, and a finalist for the 2007 Ann Arbor News Citizen of the Year, Steve taught writing at Eastern Michigan University before founding 826michigan in 2004. Steven is now the co-founder and publisher of Dzanc Books.","brand":"Hawthorne Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48532126957797,"sku":"NP9780990437055","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780990437055.jpg?v=1773182749","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/benchere-in-wonderland-isbn-9780990437055","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}