Bottom of the Sky - by Rodrigo Fresán (Paperback)

About the Book

A novel of science fiction inspired by Slaughterhouse-Five that is a love letter to the genre as a whole.

Book Synopsis

At its core, The Bottom of the Sky is a novel about two young boys in love with other planets and a disturbingly beautiful girl. An homage to the history of American science fiction, it's also about the Gulf War, 9/11, and a mysterious "incident." It's like a Kurt Vonnegut novel told by David Lynch through the lens of Philip K. Dick.

Review Quotes

"It's the book of the future, the book that begins to write itself when everything has ended: the story of two young people in love with planets, and of a disturbingly beautiful girl. Between Bioy Casares and Philip K. Dick, but with a voice all its own, it is both powerful and artistic."--Enrique Vila-Matas

"I've read few novels this exciting in recent years. Mantra is the novel I've laughed with the most, the one that has seemed the most virtuosic and at the same time the most disruptive."--Roberto Bolaño

"A kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room."--Jonathan Lethem

"Rodrigo Fresán is a marvelous writer, a direct descendent of Adolfo Bioy Casares and Jorge Luis Borges, but with his own voice and of his own time, with a fertile imagination, daring and gifted with a vision as entertaining as it is profound."--John Banville

"A lively if sometimes-disjointed paean to creativity. Invented, and deeply inventive as well, an exemplary postmodern novel that is both literature and entertainment."--Kirkus Reviews (STARRED REVIEW)

"What Fresán has written is a strangely beautiful and beautifully strange novel: these two things at the same time and in the same space."--Magalí Urcaray

About the Author

Rodrigo Fresán is the author of several novels, including Kensington Gardens, The Invented Part, The Dreamed Part, and Mantra, the latter three all published or forthcoming from Open Letter Books. His works incorporate many elements from science fiction (Philip K. Dick in particular) alongside pop culture and literary references. According to Jonathan Lethem, "he's a kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room."

Will Vanderhyden received an MA in Literary Translation Studies from the University of Rochester. He has translated fiction by Carlos Labbé, Edgardo Cozarinsky, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Juan Marsé, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Rodrigo Fresán, and Elvio Gandolfo. He received NEA and Lannan fellowships to translate another of Fresán's novels, The Invented Part.