I Am Radar
Reif Larsen(Author)
Harvill Secker (Publisher)
Published on 26. March 2015
Book
Hardback
672 pages
978-1-84655-855-9 (ISBN)
Description
A kaleidoscopic, epic novel about a lovestruck radio operator who discovers a secret society...
In 1975, a black child is mysteriously born to white parents. His name is Radar Radmanovic. Falling in with a secretive group of puppeteers and scientists who stage performances in war zones around the world, he is soon forced to confront the true nature of his identity.
Though Radar is raised in suburban New Jersey, his story rapidly becomes entangled with events stretching from Belgrade in a time of siege to arctic Norway, from Cambodia in the years before the murderous Khmer Rouge regime to the modern-day Congo.
It explores the furthest reaches of quantum physics, forgotten history and human experience. It's also about one man, one family and how far you may need to travel to know yourself.
I Am Radar is greater than all of its remarkable parts, a breathtaking, highly addictive joyride that finally arrives at a place of wonder.
In 1975, a black child is mysteriously born to white parents. His name is Radar Radmanovic. Falling in with a secretive group of puppeteers and scientists who stage performances in war zones around the world, he is soon forced to confront the true nature of his identity.
Though Radar is raised in suburban New Jersey, his story rapidly becomes entangled with events stretching from Belgrade in a time of siege to arctic Norway, from Cambodia in the years before the murderous Khmer Rouge regime to the modern-day Congo.
It explores the furthest reaches of quantum physics, forgotten history and human experience. It's also about one man, one family and how far you may need to travel to know yourself.
I Am Radar is greater than all of its remarkable parts, a breathtaking, highly addictive joyride that finally arrives at a place of wonder.
Reviews / Votes
Inventive and surreal * Financial Times * I Am Radar is as easy to enjoy for its swaggering tragicomic spirit as it is to admire for its celestial ambition * New York Times Book Review * Big, beautiful, ambitious... His prose is addictive and enchanting * Los Angeles Times * Larsen has wit, intelligence, empathy and imagination. What he turns his clear gifts to next promises to be fascinating -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday * Chameleonic, ambitious, epic, fantastical, whimsical, thought-provoking, arcane, philosophical, exhaustive, and completely bonkers - these are just some of the words that could be used to describe I Am Radar... Unquestionably one of the more adventurous entries into the literary landscape * Boston Globe *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 57 mm
Weight
1126 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84655-855-9 (9781846558559)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Reif Larsen is the author of The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and has now been made into a film by Jean-Pierre Jeuent, the director of Amelie.
He studied at Brown University and has taught at Columbia University. His essays and fiction have appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Tin House, The Millions and The Believer. He lives in Scotland.
He studied at Brown University and has taught at Columbia University. His essays and fiction have appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Tin House, The Millions and The Believer. He lives in Scotland.