The Empty Chair: Two Novellas

(Paperback)

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Description

Composed of two companion novellas, The Empty Chair is a profound, heartwrenching piece of spiritual storytelling from internationally acclaimed author Bruce Wagner. In First Guru, a fictional Wagner narrates the tale of a Buddhist living in Big Sur, who achieves enlightenment in the horrific aftermath of his child's suicide. In Second Guru, Queenie, an aging wild child, returns to India to complete the spiritual journey of her youth. Told in ravaged, sensuous detail to the author-narrator by two strangers on opposite sides of the country, years apart from each other.

Reviews

"[Wagner] possesses a fluent ability to move aback and forth between the satiric and the sympathetic, the scabrous and the tender."
Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

Wagners book deftly illustrates how the quest for spirituality and self-realization underscore ones understanding of the purpose of life.
Publishers Weekly

While Wagners trademark scathing satirical skills are in full force thanks to his sprightly word play and jaundiced observations, his purposeful exploration of the nature and importance of storytelling takes him in a subtly nuanced new direction.Booklist

Lushly embroidered with allusions to the Beat GenerationWagner meditates on our fundamental cravings for connectionsboth human and divineand meaningsboth personal and cosmicwith wit, compassion and a sharp eye for the lies we tell ourselves.Kirkus, STARRED review

Author Bio

Bruce Wagner is the author of Dead Stars, Memorial, The Chrysanthemum Palace (a PEN/Faulkner fiction award finalist), Still Holding, I'll Let You Go, I'm Losing You, and Force Majeure. He lives in Los Angeles.