The Book from the Sky

(Paperback)

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This is a novel of a Divided Self, which lives separate existences that never meet until the very end. The 'Other', in this case, is oneself. "The Book from the Sky" is a journey into the outer space of the inside of the mind, which Robert Kelly explores with a surprising familiarity, as if he clearly sees into the dreamlike terrain of the unconscious. What begins as a novel of romantic adventure along a familiar formula (boy meets girl; boy and girl go on a journey together) slips into groundbreaking territory as the protagonist is literally split in two. A gripping story of a boy who becomes a man who meets his double, the drama is in what happens when one becomes two. In this case there are two selves, and they are cultivated in completely different ways. The end, when it comes, is inevitable.

Reviews

"All aboard this vintage flying saucer for an entertaining reimagining of the ancient theme of the double. Like much of Robert Kellys writing, both whimsical and erudite, earthy and ethereal, a boys space adventure comic book interleafed with a provocatively eccentric book of wisdom."
Robert Coover, author of The Public Burning

Kelly is a poet with a religio-mystic bent, for whom the cultic vistas of the universe are routine stops... The story is toned with a vatic sense of mission, and Kellys poetic incongruities exert an eerie force: Darling, if you want to find heaven keep looking down. The mud has much to tell you.
Marx Dorrity, Chronogram Magazine

"Like certain other speculative romances (perhaps Stranger in a Strange Land, or 'The Gospel of Judas'), Kellys superbly eerie SciFi novel might give rise to a whole new religionbut one in which words are as real as stones."
Peter Lamborn Wilson, author of Pirate Utopias

"Alien abduction has always been the most intimate and insidious of 'supernatural' rumors, and when, as here, a poet brings his own magic to bear on it, we begin to understand what it means: it is the dream of a reality reseeded by heaven. The reader longs to live in Kelly's book, as in a paradise restored."
Carey Harrison, author of Freud: A Novel

Prolific poet and novelist Robert Kelly concocts a complex and compelling story that explores the metaphysical origins of language, spirituality, and identity. The Book From the Sky is at once a confessional and a spiritual guidebook, a book that intersperses odd aphoristic affirmations with an internal journey of divorced selves who, much like the entangled quantum particles with their spooky action at a distance, have inextricably intertwined fates. This entrancing novel lures the reader with a science fiction story and then unravels amazing ideas that spiral outward. As this book settles in the readers mind, one must be content to let the ideas take on a life of their own.
Rain Taxi Magazine

Literature has a long history of borrowing themes from religion and mythology, but it takes a brave and insightful author to examine current myths and convert those themes into literature. Robert Kelly uses alien abduction to examine ideas about faith, humanism, and the nature of reality in The Book from the Sky Kelly is a fantastic writer, and he easily draws readers into this strange and philosophical book. His language is so lush and evocative, it's easy to overlook the oddness of this book's structure and just follow along With more than 50 books of poetry and prose to his name, Kelly has honed his writing to a precise edge. Sentences are rhythmic, words are repeated for effect, but his meticulousness never seems mannered or overly stylized.
Hipster Book Club

I appreciated the stream of consciousness at the beginning of the book and during some of Billy's sojourn on that other planet. The book within the book, which is a sort of book of proverbs, had interesting commentary.
Mostly Fiction Book Reviews

Author Bio

A prominent figure in American literature since the late 1950s, Robert Kelly has published over 50 books, including 10 novels, and has won the American Book Award and other prizes for his work. For over 40 years he has been a prominent educator and he has bridged literary generations, serving as a mentor and inspiration for countless students, readers, and writers. He teaches at Bard College and lives in Red Hook, New York. His work has appeared in Chelsea (which he co-founded), Conjunctions, and other literary magazines.