In/Half

(Hardback, Hardback)

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Description

It is twenty-five years into the future, and a glitch in the global communications network is ripping a previously united world apart at the seams. The millennials find themselves hardest hit among them childhood friends Evan, an addict theatre director; Kras, a family patriarch and ex-war-minister; and Zoja, an anarchist poet. As they prepare to celebrate their fiftieth birthdays, the three find themselves hurtling through a disconnected world filled with the debris of past histories, as they desperately try and recapture the magic of their former lives and hold on to some sort of sense of belonging. With its sharp focus on the contradictions of modernity, In/Half is a powerful statement on the perils of the future, and on the nature of the novel, by a voice from the new generation of writers.

Reviews

A topical narrative with delightfully experimental stylization... In/Half has established Frelih as one of Slovenia's rising literary stars.

* World Literature Today, Nota Bene *

The blend of technologies old and new results in a uniquely speculative and philosophical novel.'

* Words Without Borders *

'Sustains its ghostly, ethereal tone and will be appreciated by readers looking for a mind-bending puzzle.'

* Publishers Weekly *

A novel that repays careful reading for some brilliant set-pieces, for its believably flawed characters, and for its bone-dry, even cynical, wit.

* SFX *

One of the biggest emerging literary talents in Central and Eastern Europe.

* European Union Prize for Literature News *

Adizzying reading experience...Like a breakneck surf session that keeps you glued to the screen until the early hours...with an unusually addictive mix of styles, tones, perspectives and meaning.

* Bruzz *

Three worlds, each with their distinct atmosphere, ranging from highly technological to the domestic, bring into being different languages that do not lack the feeling of alienation or nascent activism. Frelih sovereignly handles this second order of speech, his alienation is charged less by the librarian style of the erudite part of metafiction than with the density and intensity of poetic speech, in place of authorial narration we are submerged in fragments that, with their forcefulness, shine through and reflect the fates of individuals.

* EU Prize for Literature Jury *

In/Halfis an overwhelming vision of the future...and shows an exceptional writer at work.

* De Standaard *

Frelih writes with a mature style, covering a wide range of themes linked to contemporary society, emphasising the grotesque and the fabular in an almost Kafka-esque style. The tone is by turns poetic, satirical, ironic and apocalyptic, finally moving towards surreal chaos. It is this style that makes Frelih's novel exceptional.

* iLiteratura.cz *

Mature, structurally varied, rich in content and stylistically accomplished...Frelih's first novel offers a decisive, yet unobtrusive sense of engagement, prompted by the recognition that the world of the third millennium is out of joint and the awareness of how hard it is to pinpoint that first, unequivocal mistake which sent humanity down a blind alley. We are haunted by a state of inevitability and searching for shelter compassion which does not come. Frelih doesn't beautify the world, he just sets it square in his sight, sharpens it, dissecting the patterns of evil within it.

* Pogledi *

Appealing and intriguing.

* Complete Review *

Author Bio

Jasmin B. Frelihstudied comparative literature and literary theory at the University of Ljubljana. His debut novel, In/Half, was first published in 2013 and won a number of prizes, including the EU Prize for Literature.He lives in Slovenia. Jason Blake is a Canadian writer and translator of German and Slovenian literature. He holdsa PhD from the University of Ljubljana, where he currently teaches English.