Praise for Marina Mander's The First True Lie "If you liked
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, read
The First True Lie, by Marina Mander
. Mander's English-language debut has all of Foer's energy, despite a hard-to-stomach premise... As in
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the buoyancy of the child narrator's voice is ultimately an act of hope -- hope in the face of death, darkness, and trauma."
--Cosmopolitan
"From page one I was with Luca, the adorable and witty young narrator of this brilliant and emotionally upsetting story. I lived in his words and in his head, and stayed there for a long time after I had finished the book."
--Herman Koch, author of the international bestseller The Dinner
"Mander's English-language debut is narrated by the ebullient Luca, whose voice is every bit as engaging as the best child narrators out there: imagine a blend of Oskar (
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Blue (
Special Topics in Calamity Physics), and Christopher Boone (
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). This slim novel smartly focuses on the cranks and gears of Luca's imagination....[A]t its best, Luca's original voice will break your heart. Ultimately, Luca's story offers a buoyant picture of hope in the face of disaster, and life in the face of death."
--Publishers Weekly
"Translated from the Italian in clear, lyrical prose, always true to the child's viewpoint, the blend of horror and innocence captures a universal nightmare....The terse survival drama of the child marooned alone, not in the wilderness but in the crowded city, will stir readers: Could it be happening on my street? How will it end?"
--Booklist
"[An] elegantly carved look into the inner life of an orphaned child."
--Kirkus Reviews
"Cruel, heart-wrenching, and surprising...As all great books do, this opens a window into a world. It will not be easy for you to close that window, nor to forget that world."
--La Republica "A beautiful novel that tells a terrible story with brio and depth."
--Tiziano Scarpa