This Life: A Novel

(Paperback)

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• POWERFUL STORY OF PRISON FROM DEBUT AUTHOR: Quntos KunQuest is serving a long-term sentence at Angola. His indelible voice reveals what life is like on the inside and powerfully communicates where and how the imprisoned find meaning.
• RESONANT THEMES OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND BLACK HISTORY:This Life shines a sharp light on the American penitentiary system, condemning the system that has imprisoned black men for generations.
• A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: The deeply flawed criminal justice system in the United States has increasingly been a matter of discussion and debate. This Life gives humanity to these debates, allowing the inmates of Angola to speak for themselves and revealing the human beings at the center of a national conversation.

Reviews

PRAISE FOR THIS LIFE: "KunQuest's searing debut depicts a man's unrelentingly brutal life in the U.S. prison system. . . . Using an effective experimental combination of prose and rap lyrics, KunQuest brilliantly captures the cadence and rhythm of prison. Confident and unrelenting, this one hits hard." Publishers Weekly, starred review "The characters may be suffering from mental, physical, and psychological violence of long-term imprisonment, but they find solace and complex relationships in community and art. An effective philosophical novel that uses hip-hop to tell a story of prison life and how rhyme can lead to redemption." Kirkus Reviews "KunQuest offers a full and precise portrait of prison life, from daily mundane rituals to the dynamics of relationships, philosophical musings, legal pitfalls, and the psychological turmoil experienced by individuals imprisoned for life." Booklist "Vital, inventive... I thought it was brilliant and original. It was unlike anything that I've ever read." Jelani Cobb,The New Yorker "What a gripping, evocative novel This Life is. Quntos KunQuest has given us an intimate, human, insightful tale that calls for action even as it claims self-acceptance. Its one hell of a debut." Jami Attenberg, author of All This Could Be Yours This Life is jolty, rhythmic, sometimes very funny, sermonizing and chopped: it is also beautiful. Quntos KunQuest has dreamed up, and molded, hammered, and shaped, a new mode of fiction: American, and poetic, and wonderfully free. Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room "Quntos KunQuest is such an original voice. His spirited prose and evocative storytelling will both knock you off balance and pull you in. In the end This Life is about what it means to be human in the most inhumane of places. Alex Kotlowitz, author of An American Summer and There Are No Children Here "This brilliant novel comes to us written in the secret and perfect language of those who are left behind walls to evolve from a very young age: brotherly love is the code, self-realization is the goal, unending hope is the sorrow. I love this book so much. I can't imagine why it has taken so long for the true genre of prison writing to arrive."Deb Olin Unferth, author of Barn 8 A compelling and detailed account of what daily life is like under incarceration, a parable of the search for meaning in dehumanizing conditions, and the growth of a complicated sense of mutual respect. The Times-Picayune "This Life deserves to be read, to be read widely, to be read aloud, to be savored, and to be thought about." Book Pleasures

Author Bio

Quntos KunQuest was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1976. Since 1996, he has been incarcerated at the Louisiana State Prison in Angola, Louisiana. He is a musician, rapper, visual artist, and novelist. Zachary Lazar is the author of six books, including Vengeance. He is a professor of English at Tulane University in New Orleans.