Título: The Ski Jumpers: A Novel
Autor: Peter Geye
Sinopse: Now in paperback: a writer and former ski jumper facing a terminal diagnosis takes one more leap—into a past of soaring flights and broken family bonds
A brilliant ski jumper has to be fearless—Jon Bargaard remembers this well. His memories of daring leaps and risks might be the key to the book he’s always wanted to write: a novel about his family, beginning with Pops, once a champion ski jumper himself, who also took Jon and his younger brother Anton to the heights. But Jon has never been able to get past the next, ruinous episode of their history, and now that he has received a terrible diagnosis, he’s afraid he never will.
In a bravura performance, Peter Geye follows Jon deep into the past he tried so hard to leave behind, telling the story he spent his life escaping. It begins with a flourish, his father and his hard-won sweetheart fleeing Chicago, and a notoriously ruthless gangster, to land in North Minneapolis. That, at least, was the tale Jon heard, one that becomes more and more suspect as he revisits the events that eventually tore the family in two, sending his father to prison, his mother to the state hospital, and placing himself, a teenager, in charge of thirteen-year-old Anton. Traveling back and forth in time, Jon tells his family’s story—perhaps his last chance to share it—to his beloved wife Ingrid, circling ever closer to the truth about those events and his own part in them, and revealing the perhaps unforgivable violence done to the brothers’ bond.
The dream of ski jumping haunts Jon as his tale unfolds, daring time to stop just long enough to stick the landing. As thrilling as those soaring flights, as precarious as the Bargaard family’s complicated love, as tender as Jon’s backward gaze while disease takes him inexorably forward, Peter Geye’s gorgeous prose brings the brothers to the precipice of their relationship, where they have to choose: each other, or the secrets they’ve held so tightly for so long.
Cover alt text: Lightly gradiented periwinkle sky background with white cloud in upper right corner and snow in lower left. At top, a cutout black-and-white image of a ski jumper appears and is cut off at the neck. Foreground: Book title in all-caps red, with author name beneath in all-caps white and “A Novel” beneath in all-cap dark grey. All text reads at a motion slant.
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “The Ski Jumpers: A Novel”, de Peter Geye, publicado pela editora Univ Of Minnesota Press, em 2023 e com 408 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Páginas: 408
Ano: 2023-10-03
Edição:
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 1517913500
ISBN13: 9781517913502
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Univ Of Minnesota Press convidam o leitor a transitar por temáticas que mesclam ciências humanas, história cultural e estudos contemporâneos, muitas vezes com um olhar interdisciplinar e crítico. A experiência de leitura costuma ser densa e reflexiva, com narrativas que exploram desde o impacto das tecnologias digitais em políticas públicas até investigações profundas sobre identidades, culturas e ambientes naturais. O tom varia entre o ensaístico e o literário, com obras que vão do relato histórico detalhado ao ensaio pessoal e poético, sempre com atenção a contextos sociais e políticos. O catálogo sugere uma preferência por textos que desafiam perspectivas convencionais, incluindo vozes marginalizadas e temas urgentes como racismo estrutural, ecologia e sexualidades diversas.
