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The Material: 'Brilliance is on display' Percival Everett

(Paperback, Main)

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Publishing Details

Full Title:

The Material: 'Brilliance is on display' Percival Everett

Contributors:

By (Author) Camille Bordas

ISBN:

9781805220084

Publisher:

Profile Books Ltd

Imprint:

Serpent's Tail

Publication Date:

5th August 2025

UK Publication Date:

22nd May 2025

Edition:

Main

Country:

United Kingdom

Classifications

Readership:

General

Genre:
Fiction/Non-fiction:

Fiction

Other Subjects:

Humorous fiction

Dewey:

813.6

Physical Properties

Physical Format:

Paperback

Number of Pages:

352

Dimensions:

Width 128mm, Height 196mm, Spine 26mm

Weight:

280g

Description

'Utterly charming ... Bordas is an invaluable new voice' George Saunders 'A disquisition into the nature of comedy and creativity. Like the best comedians ... Bordas is alert to the deeper joke' Sunday Times 'Amusing... impressive' New York Times 'Marvellously engaging and entertaining ... full of terrific moments and cutting dialogue' Independent Every comedian knows that there's a line between sharp and cruel, that sad becomes funny at the right angle, that any moment in life, however painful or triumphant, has the potential to become a punchline. At the Chicago Stand-up School, success is about the material. But maybe Artie is too handsome to be taken seriously on stage, Olivia too scared to examine her past, and Phil too afraid to cause harm. Their teachers are obsessed with failure: Kruger trying to command his father's respect, Ashbee weary of the way his Blackness attracts a type of white admirer, Dorothy wondering how her talent is connected to her loneliness. Whether a visiting comedian-the famous, controversy-steeped Manny Reinhardt-will do more to help or to harm their cause remains to be seen. Set over the course of a single day, and shifting exquisitely between several points of view, The Material examines life through the eyes of a band of outsiders bound together by the need to laugh, and the desire to make others laugh even harder.

Reviews

'A disquisition into the nature of comedy and creativity. Like the best comedians ... Bordas is alert to the deeper joke' - Johanna Thomas-Corr

'Amusing... impressive' - New York Times

'Marvellously engaging and entertaining ... full of terrific moments and cutting dialogue' - Independent

'Fully imagined ... often effortless' - Observer

'Surprising and powerful ... The Material is often acutely insightful and sometimes very, very funny. Recommended' - Irish Times

Author Bio

Camille Bordas is the author of three previous prize-winning novels. The third, How to Behave in a Crowd, was the first she wrote in English. The earlier two, Partie Commune and Les Treize Desserts, were written in her native French. Her short stories regularly appear in the New Yorker. Born in France, raised in Mexico City and Paris, she currently lives in Chicago.

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