Book of the Month: A Naked Singularity by Sergio De La Pava

This is a defiant, digressive debut. De La Pava released it online in 2008, after years of rejection at the hands of publishers. And as the glowing online reviews stacked up it got noticed, published, and promptly won a PEN literary award for best newcomer.

There’s no neat narrative arc, and these few words can hardly do the 800 or so pages of hyper-realism any justice. We follow lawyer Casi through a frozen New York, we range from the formality and inadequacy of the courtroom to the isolation of a flat with weird neighbours, to the overwhelming cacophony of the extended family at his mum’s house. There are illicit millions to be heisted, an inside job to be done and so on, but it’s the style of the thing that really demands attention. The dialogue is lethal, the scale is barely graspable: the book expands from an explosive opening set-piece into a galaxy of reactions; it moves fast and slow at the same time, and in so many directions that it can be hard to keep up. The ungainly structure is perhaps a sign of the absent editor, but it’s also a big part of the appeal. De La Pava ranges far and wide with his socio-historical magnifying glass, coalescing strange and compelling details into a magnificent whole. [Galen O'Hanlon]