Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 6 reviews on
A novel about the unsettling space between identities, and a disturbing portrait of dementia from the inside out, Lord constructs an altogether original story out of the ways we search for new versions of ourselves. With jaw-dropping scenes and sensual, at times grotesque images, renowned Brazilian author João Gilberto Noll grants us stunning new visions of our own personalities and the profound transformations that overtake us throughout life.
"Caught in the mind of a man unmoored, Noll's novel bears witness to a grotesque second birth. All attempts to renovate, reincarnate, and, ultimately, escape the body's animal demands only point to greater forces--not only those of fear, arousal, hunger, and health, but self-conception and self-contemplation, too." -- Foreword Reviews
"A novel about the unsettling space between identities . . . Noll grants us stunning new visions of our own personalities and the profound transformations that overtake us throughout life." -- Tor.com
"Noll's daring and original style and sensibility has been brought to life in this expert translation. Lord is a brilliant introduction to a hero of Brazilian literature who deserves to be widely known in the English-speaking world." -- Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation
"In dream-like prose that soon turns feverish, João Gilberto Noll manages to expansively embody the disorienting experiences of migration. Just like Joseph K., who was arrested without knowing the nature of his crime, the middle-age Brazilian writer who leaves Porto Alegre knows very little about why he has been offered an airplane ticket to London and a home in Hackney. Soon, he finds himself forgetting his language, reinventing his sexuality, and walking aimlessly through a city he wishes never to leave. Masterful, sensuous, and disquieting." -- Cristina Rivera Garza, author of The Taiga Syndrome
"Noll is a master of prose, one of Brazil's true literary icons." -- Literary Hub
"One of the most celebrated writers in contemporary Brazilian literature." -- Guernica
"João Gilberto Noll could make any life into a compelling novel." -- Music & Literature
"The haunting sensibilities of João Gilberto Noll's fiction point to why it's continuing to find readers now, and why it continues to be all too relevant. This is unsettling fiction in the best way." -- The Culture Trip