The Weight of Numbers
Will be published approx. on 14. September 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
432 pages
978-1-84354-464-7 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the O2 X Award
'Dynamic'-- Daily Telegraph
'Dazzling'-- Guardian
'Ambitious and virtuoso'-- Financial Times
'Unforgettable'-- The Times
'Ingenious... shimmering'-- New Statesman
On July 21, 1969 two astronauts set foot on the moon; far below, in ravaged Mozambique, a young revolutionary - hailed as the saviour of his country - is murdered by a package bomb.
From these two unconnected events, Simon Ings weaves a great and glittering web that entangles four lives: Anthony Burden, a mathematical genius destroyed by the beauty of numbers; Saul Cogan, transformed from prankster idealist to trafficker in the poor and dispossessed; and Stacey Chavez, ex-teenage celebrity and mediocre performance artist, hungry for fame and starved of love. All are haunted by Nick Jinks, a man who sows disaster wherever he treads.
As the twentieth century unravels, Burden, Cogan, Chavez and Jinks are powerless to escape the connections that bind them. This is not fate, but its opposite: the weight of numbers.
'Dynamic'-- Daily Telegraph
'Dazzling'-- Guardian
'Ambitious and virtuoso'-- Financial Times
'Unforgettable'-- The Times
'Ingenious... shimmering'-- New Statesman
On July 21, 1969 two astronauts set foot on the moon; far below, in ravaged Mozambique, a young revolutionary - hailed as the saviour of his country - is murdered by a package bomb.
From these two unconnected events, Simon Ings weaves a great and glittering web that entangles four lives: Anthony Burden, a mathematical genius destroyed by the beauty of numbers; Saul Cogan, transformed from prankster idealist to trafficker in the poor and dispossessed; and Stacey Chavez, ex-teenage celebrity and mediocre performance artist, hungry for fame and starved of love. All are haunted by Nick Jinks, a man who sows disaster wherever he treads.
As the twentieth century unravels, Burden, Cogan, Chavez and Jinks are powerless to escape the connections that bind them. This is not fate, but its opposite: the weight of numbers.
Reviews / Votes
Dazzling, admirable narrative verve... It is unlikely there will be a finer written fiction this year * Guardian * An ambitious, exciting novel.. unforgettable' * The Times * A dynamic, innovative, and compelling book that brings into focus some of the most interesting trends in contemporary fiction * Daily Telegraph * Simon Ings' ambitiously genre-defying novel is a virtuoso display of imaginative plotting * Financial Times * Ings weaves an ingenious, shimmering web of contiguity and chance... a feat of meticulous plotting. * New Statesman * One of the most exciting - and relevant - books of the last year. Booker material, for sure. * Arena * A deceptively readable, dizzyingly constructed novel... Ing's mad, mad world is held together to the very last page by humour, vivid depictions and a deeply compelling emotional core * Publishers Weekly STARRED review *More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
404 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84354-464-7 (9781843544647)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Simon Ings is a novelist (Dead Water, 2011) and science writer (The Eye, 2007). He lives in South London.