Joseph Guiteau is a working actor who moved to New York to escape a tragic family history in the Midwest. Wandering through a city transformed by the attacks of September 2001, he frequents gatherings of conspiracy groups, trying to make sense of world events and his own personal history. Looming over his life is a secret that threatens to undermine his new marriage to Del, a snake expert at a city park, whose work visa is the only thread keeping her from deportation back to her native Greece.
The new marriage influences the lives of those around them: William, a dark and troubled actor whose sanity is fading as quickly as his career, leading him to perform increasingly desperate acts; Madi, a young entrepreneur who will have to face the moral complications of a business made successful by the outsourcing of American jobs to India; and her brother Raj, Del's former lover, a promising photographer whose work details the empty rooms of an increasingly alienated city.
Christopher Bollen's first novel captures the atmosphere of anxiety and loss that exists in Manhattan. It is a story of the city itself, and the interconnected lives of those attempting to navigate both Manhattan and their own mortality.
Industry Reviews
Praise for "Lightning People"
"The fanciful premise behind the title of Bollen's novel is that, after New York loses the lightning conductors of the Twin Towers, more and more residents die in lightning strikes. But the title also evokes the random nature of post-millennial city life, in which disaster or good fortune can strike at any time. An actor, supported by money from reruns of old commercials, pursues a sinister hobby--frequenting conspiracy-theory chat rooms and meetings. His wife doesn't know about her husband's fixation, distracted by her depressing job at the Bronx Zoo and her dysfunctional friends. Bollen excels at creating an atmosphere of Manhattan-specific dread, and certain scenes, particularly the account of a struggling actor's going-away party, are tragicomic masterpieces." --"The New Yorker"
"Ambitious . . . a nervy debut illuminated by flashes of insight." --"The Wall Street Journal"
"Heightened, poignant, and mysterious...Bollen's atmospheric
Praise for "Lightning People"
"Ambitious . . . a nervy debut illuminated by flashes of insight." --"The Wall Street Journal"
"Heightened, poignant, and mysterious...Bollen's atmospheric tale of post-9/11 New York has more twists and toxicity than the venomous snakes Del cares for at the Bronx Zoo...ambitious and provocative...his frantic characters are alluring, his writing ravishing, and his insights trenchant."-"Booklist"
"Bollen's characters are brimming with the verve and stamina of real people searching for meaning in a city beset by calamity... [and] the novel demonstrates the vigor and audacity of a formidable new voice." -"Publisher's Weekly"
"Bollen's intricate, humid "Lightning People" deftly combines paranoia and high drama with the mundane ache of real relationships, real weather, and a very real New York City. He delves into the the haunting mythologies we truly can't escape, while somehow capturing the sweetness of why we come together anyway."
Praise for "Lightning People"
"Heightened, poignant, and mysterious...Bollen's atmospheric tale of post-9/11 New York has more twists and toxicity than the venomous snakes Del cares for at the Bronx Zoo...ambitious and provocative...his frantic characters are alluring, his writing ravishing, and his insights trenchant."-"Booklist"
"Bollen's characters are brimming with the verve and stamina of real people searching for meaning in a city beset by calamity... [and] the novel demonstrates the vigor and audacity of a formidable new voice." -"Publisher's Weekly"
"Bollen's intricate, humid "Lightning People" deftly combines paranoia and high drama with the mundane ache of real relationships, real weather, and a very real New York City. He delves into the the haunting mythologies we truly can't escape, while somehow capturing the sweetness of why we come together anyway." --Miranda July
"Smart and rich with the spirit of our age, with keen insight into human emotio
Praise for "Lightning People"
"Bollen's intricate, humid "Lightning People" deftly combines paranoia and high drama with the mundane ache of real relationships, real weather, and a very real New York City. He delves into the the haunting mythologies we truly can't escape, while somehow capturing the sweetness of why we come together anyway." --Miranda July
"Smart and rich with the spirit of our age, with keen insight into human emotions and why we do the things we do. So readable." -Douglas Coupland
"Christopher Bollen's "Lightning People" is a tour de force that calls to mind "The Great Gatsby." Bollen writes with both humor and humanity, as he paints a canvas of love, loss, and youth in New York, and beyond. By the end, I felt I knew these people, these beautiful lightning people, and I felt myself caring for them in ways I hadn't anticipated." --Vendela Vida, author of "The Lover's"
""Lightning People" is a spacious saga about America. It is centered on N
Praise for "Lightning People"
"Smart and rich with the spirit of our age, with keen insight into human emotions and why we do the things we do. So readable." -Douglas Coupland
"Christopher Bollen's "Lightning People" is a tour de force that calls to mind "The Great Gatsby." Bollen writes with both humor and humanity, as he paints a canvas of love, loss, and youth in New York, and beyond. By the end, I felt I knew these people, these beautiful lightning people, and I felt myself caring for them in ways I hadn't anticipated." --Vendela Vida, author of "The Lover's"
""Lightning People" is a spacious saga about America. It is centered on New York and the lives of people about to be no longer young, a generation marked by 9/11 and a sense of doom or at least diminished expectations. But it is also about Cincinnati and Miami and Sikhs and failed actors and accidental murderers. This is a big book that speaks to and for a whole generation and that draws in dozens of portr
