The Easy Way Out
Published on 3. November 2016
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-78648-083-5 (ISBN)
Description
Evan's job is to help people die.
Evan is a nurse - a suicide assistant. His job is legal - just. He's the one at the hospital who hands out the last drink to those who ask for it.
Evan's friends don't know what he does during the day. His mother, Viv, doesn't know what he's up to at night. And his supervisor suspects there may be trouble ahead.
As he helps one patient after another die, Evan pushes against the limits of the law - and his own morality. And with Viv increasingly unwell, his love life complicated, to say the least, Evan begins to wonder who might be there for him, when the time comes.
From an award-winning author, The Easy Way Out is a brilliantly funny and exquisitely sad novel that gets to the heart of one of the most difficult questions each of us may face: would you help someone die?
Evan is a nurse - a suicide assistant. His job is legal - just. He's the one at the hospital who hands out the last drink to those who ask for it.
Evan's friends don't know what he does during the day. His mother, Viv, doesn't know what he's up to at night. And his supervisor suspects there may be trouble ahead.
As he helps one patient after another die, Evan pushes against the limits of the law - and his own morality. And with Viv increasingly unwell, his love life complicated, to say the least, Evan begins to wonder who might be there for him, when the time comes.
From an award-winning author, The Easy Way Out is a brilliantly funny and exquisitely sad novel that gets to the heart of one of the most difficult questions each of us may face: would you help someone die?
Reviews / Votes
The Easy Way Out is a poignant, sharply funny story that raises questions about life, death, and love, with plenty of heart and dark humour. -- Louise O'Neill In this captivating novel, Steven Amsterdam explores the philosophical complexity of end-of-life choice without ever losing the urgency of an absorbing plot. The Easy Way Out is written with insight, humor, and brio -- Andrew Solomon Movingly rendered and blackly funny . . . unfailing compassion and humanity. You might want to find and find and hug a nurse after finishing this thoughtful and ethically nuanced novel * Guardian * An unsentimental, thought-provoking tale about the meanings of life, death and freedom of choice * Sunday Times * Amsterdam is a master satirizer of politically correct bureaucracy * The Times * Amsterdam is so damn good. He is up there with the best, Delillo and the like, original as Tsolkias, but most importantly he is a master storyteller in his own right, assured and compelling, he somehow articulates things you know deep down but never been able to put your finger on. I never want to stop reading him -- Anna Krien, author of Night Games The Easy Way Out is a perfect storm of a novel. Superbly written and instantly engaging. * Sydney Morning Herald * The Easy Way Out is incredibly funny . . . striking and unsettling . . . a finely poised book that deals with a difficult - and also critically important - subject matter with remarkable tenderness, humour, and nuance. * Australian Book Review * 'Even in the blackest scenes Amsterdam's gift for mordant humour keeps the reader entertained' * Sunday Times * 'The book as a whole is a small marvel, overflowing with ideas. Scary, funny, shocking and touching by turns, it combines the readerly pleasures of constant reorientation with the sober charge of an urgent warning' * Guardian on Things We Didn't See Coming * Read it once and then read it twice, often . . . Rarely has the darkness of life been looked at with such buoyant irony, imaginative grace and disarming candour. * Irish Times, on Things We Didn't See Coming * 'A treat to read - playful, intelligent, and intriguing ' * Daily Mail on Things We Didn't See Coming * A timely and stimulating topical novel. * Australian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quercus Publishing
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78648-083-5 (9781786480835)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Steven Amsterdam is a writer and palliative care nurse. Originally from New York City, he now lives in Melbourne. His most recent novel about assisted suicide, The Easy Way Out, has enjoyed critical acclaim in both the UK and Australia, and has been long-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. His first book Things We Didn't See Coming was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award. His second book, What the Family Needed was longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.