THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATENESS: A NOVEL

Book ID/图书代码： 03277012B54281

English Summary/英文概要： In The Illusion of Separateness, award-winning author Simon Van Booy tells the haunting and luminous story of how one man’s act of mercy on a World War II battlefield changes the lives of six strangers across time and place. From wartime Britain and Nazi-occupied France, to modern-day Los Angeles, the characters of this gripping novel – inspired by true events – include a child on the brink of starvation, a blind museum curator looking for love, a German infantryman, and a humble caretaker at a retirement home in Santa Monica. Whether they are pursued by old age, shame, disease, or regret, these incandescent characters remain unaware of their connection until seemingly random acts of selflessness lift a veil to reveal the vital parts they play in each other’s lives.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 2010年，已过中年的马丁是加州一所养老院的护工，自青年时代起他就为自己的身世困扰。他的养父母告诉他，他是被一双陌生的手送进母亲的怀抱的。有，养老院新来了一位住户雨果先生，他死在了马丁的臂弯里。

1981年，雨果先生一个人住在曼彻斯特，孤独地和邻居有拼读障碍的小男孩丹尼维持着友谊，他终生和自己“不共戴天之徒”的德军身份抗衡。

1945年，美国空军士兵约翰乘坐的B－24型轰炸机在旷野坠毁，凭着对妻子哈特利的爱，以及和雨果的相遇，他从地狱般的世界逃脱，余生一直隐秘地通过慈善为世界注入善意。

2005年，艾米莉亚在当代艺术博物馆为盲人们筹划艺术展。她的生活从未被失明这一事实束缚，她打开全部的感知触角，去勇敢追求自己的爱情，还有祖父约翰被战争遮蔽的传奇人生。

1968年，塞巴斯蒂安·达赞在自家农场的树林里发现了一架飞机的残骸，不过当时他思考的是如何与海莉展开新的人生。

当这些接近隔绝的人生缓缓展开，西蒙·范·布伊编写的这本《分离的幻象》通过摆布这些故事的双手，蓦然发现世界的因果和神迹。我们都被自己无力改变的事物所束缚。伤痛和残缺都有因果。爱却从来不问。(DD)

Awards/获奖情况：Thereafter, the narrative leaps back and forth in time, introducing characters and events whose associations emerge slowly. Only after a French boy is seen playing in an “iron skeleton” he’s discovered in the woods does American soldier John Bray crash his B-24 Liberator in France. Mr. Hugo’s friendship with talented young Danny in 1980s Manchester, England, is linked to both the crash and the retirement home. And when a soldier wakes up in a French hospital in 1948, realizing that he is “one of those: hated,” the way is paved for an earlier battlefield confrontation that is the moral crux of the story. VERDICT At first glance, clues to what’s happening seem uncomfortably scattered; at second glance, the story snaps together beautifully. A brilliant if elusive novel that shows how a single act can echo through time; definitely recommended, though not for easy-reading folks. [See Prepub Alert, 1/14/13.]—Barbara ¬Hoffert, Library Journal
The latest addition to Van Booy’s eclectic literary repertoire is a fractured but fine-tuned narrative revealed through the sum of its pieced-together parts. The story is based on actual events and told from the perspective of six distantly related characters in alternating chapters stretching from New York in 1939 to France throughout WWII, and to East Sussex, England, and Los Angeles, Calif., both in 2010; it quietly unfolds around a multigenerational family ravaged by war, loss, and regret. Mr. Hugo is a disfigured Nazi soldier atoning for his crimes; Martin is a French caretaker at a retirement home for aging starlets; Amelia is a blind 20-something searching for love while setting up programs for the sightless at New York’s Museum of Modern Art; and John survived the crash of his B-24 plane over Nazi-occupied France to join the French resistance. Using restraint and a subtle dose of foreshadowing, Van Booy (Everything Beautiful Began After) expertly entangles these disparate lives; but it’s what he leaves out that captures the imagination. Full of clever staccato sentences (“Most nights, he watches television. Then he falls asleep and the television watches him”) bookended by snippets of inner monologue—obvious, but ripe with meaning (“We all have different lives... but in the end probably feel the same things, and regret the fear we thought might somehow sustain us”), the writing is what makes this remarkable book soar. Agent: Carrie Kania, Conville & Walsh Literary Agency (July)

About the Author/作者介绍： 西蒙·范·布伊，英国小说家。1975年生于伦敦，在威尔士乡村和牛津长大，大学时成为美国肯塔基州一所大学的橄榄球队员，后回到英国获得MFA学位。曾旅居巴黎和雅典。

西蒙·范·布伊2007年的处女作《黑暗中的绽放》出版后即获得维尔切创新奖文学奖项的很终提名；出版于2009年的《爱，始于冬季》则荣获弗兰·奥康纳靠前短篇小说奖。他的靠前部长篇小说《美，始于怀念》2011年一出版即获得北美独立书商“书店大奖”小说奖项的提名。《分离的幻象》于2013年先后在美国和英国出版，受到《出版人周刊》的热情评价。

他还在纽约艺术学校和长岛大学兼职任教，并参与一个关怀青少年的人道主义项目。

目前，西蒙·范·布伊定居纽约布鲁林。

Simon Van Booy was born in London and grew up in rural Wales. He is the author of Love Begins in Winter—which won the International Frank O’Connor Prize. His non-fiction has appeared in newspapers such as the New York Times, the Daily Telegraph, and the New York Post. He lives in New York City, where he lectures at the School of Visual Arts and is involved in the Rutgers Early College Humanities Program (REaCH) for young adults living in underserved communities. His work has been translated into nine different languages.

西蒙•凡•布一（Simon Van Booy）居于纽约，所著《徜徉爱的秘密生活以及爱在冬天蔓延时》（The Secret Lives of People in Love and Love Begins in Winter）荣获2009年国际弗兰克•奥•康纳奖，他主编的3册哲学将于2010年问世。他为纽约时报、每日电报、时代周刊撰稿。他的作品已被翻译成八种语言。

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：So the list is now as follows:
UK & Commonwealth Oneworld
Australia: Text Australia
USA: HarperCollins
France: Editions Autrement
Germany: Suhrkamp
Greece: Patakis
Netherlands: Querido

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