Heft (37 page)
Authors: Liz Moore
—
Library Journal
“If ever an author cared more deeply about her characters than Liz Moore, I haven’t found her yet. She is a profoundly compassionate writer, and in these two unlikely heroes, she gives us people worth rooting for.”
—
The Rumpus
“
Heft
is both a lyrically written tale and an engrossing page-turner . . . [that] tug[s] at a reader’s emotions. . . . This tender tale is ultimately hopeful and unforgettable.”
—Bookreporter.com
“Every once in a while, you read a book with such well-written, memorable characters that you know you’re going to remember them forever. . . .
Heft
is a wonderful oddball of a book. I loved it.”
—Jennifer Weiner
“Liz Moore’s second novel captures an intricate helix of American voices. The achievement of any novelist is to allow people to pay compassionate attention in an age when it’s all too easy to shut the door, close the curtains, hide away, embrace the dark. This novel goes inside and drags the hidden out into the world. A suspenseful, restorative novel from one of our fine young voices.”
—Colum McCann
“This is the real deal, Liz Moore is the real deal—she’s written a novel that will stick with you long after you’ve finished it. I don’t know how she knows what she knows about morbidly obese academics or teenaged male athletes . . . but she knows. And it’s a beautiful mix. A beautiful book.”
—Russell Banks
“
Heft
is a work that radiantly combines compassion and a clear-eyed vision. Liz Moore has daringly risked telling her story in two voices—that of a wealthy, cultivated, obese agoraphobe and a radically underparented teenage baseball player—and the risk has succeeded brilliantly. This is a novel of rare originality and sophistication.”
—Mary Gordon
“In
Heft
, Liz Moore creates a cast of vulnerable, lonely misfits who will break your heart and then make it soar. What a terrific novel!”
—Ann Hood
“Can a novel about a plus-sized academic and a baseball prodigy from Yonkers be both eloquent and sneakily profound? I’m here, dear reader, to tell you that it can.
Heft
is a delight.”
—John Wray
Copyright © 2012 by Liz Moore
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton paperback 2012
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
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W. W. Norton Special Sales at [email protected] or 800-233-4830
Book design by Helene Berinsky
Production manager: Devon Zahn
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moore, Liz, 1983–
Heft / Liz Moore. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-393-08150-3 (hardcover)
1. Life change events—Fiction. 2. Self-realization—Fiction.
3. Overweight men—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction.
5. New York (State)—Fiction. 6. Domestic fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.O5644H44 2012
813’.6—dc23
2011031979
ISBN 978-0-393-34388-5 pbk.
eISBN 978-0-393-08289-0
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents