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The Made-Up Man

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Existential noir meets absurd comedy when a young man reluctantly enlists as source material for an art project.

Stanley had known it was a mistake to accept his uncle Lech's offer to apartment-sit in Prague-he'd known it was one of Lech's proposals, a thinly veiled setup for some invasive, potentially dangerous performance art project. But whatever Lech had planned for Stanley, it would get him to Prague and maybe offer a chance to make things right with T after his failed attempt to propose.

Stanley can take it. He can ignore their high jinks, resist being drafted into their evolving, darkening script. As the operation unfolds it becomes clear there's more to this performance than he expected; they know more about Stanley's state of mind than he knows himself. He may be able to step over chalk outlines in the hallway, may be able to turn away from the women acting as his mother or the men performing as his father, but when a man made up to look like Stanley begins to play out his most devastating memory, he won't be able to stand outside this imitation of his life any longer.

Immediately and wholly immersive, Joseph Scapellato's debut novel, The Made-Up Man, is a hilarious examination of art's role in self-knowledge, a sinister send-up of self-deception, and a big-hearted investigation into the cast of characters necessary to help us finally meet ourselves.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Ramiz Monsef will have listeners laughing through this absurdist depiction of a man named Stanley, whose life turns into performance art. Monsef's delivery is light, breezy, and quick as we enter a Prague apartment with the main character, who agrees to house sit for his uncle. Listeners are immersed in a dizzying amount of detail about Stanley's thoughts, delivered in a steady, believable voice by Monsef. But the people who surround Stanley in this apartment remind him of his mother, and father, and childhood--none of it by accident. Monsef manages an ironic tone to help the listener realize that Stanley's uncle has invited him not to house sit, but to become an unknowing participant in a work of live performance art. This is a quirky listen, but Monsef never loses us along the way. M.R. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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