Maybe a Miracle

by Brian Strause

Book Overview

In this disarming debut, Brian Strause has written a vastly entertaining novel about an American family transfixed by a series of mysterious events. From a comfortable suburb of Columbus, Ohio,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400064643
• ISBN13: 9781400064649
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

I really liked this story

It's the narrative voice that carries this book. The other characters are not as vivid and sometimes fall into cliches (the brother, particularly), but even then, protagonist Monroe's narration fills the gaps and tells the tale well, and with a dead-on take on teenage ennui that knows everything and nothing at the same time.

An elegant , witty and very moving treatise on faith

From memorable characters to hilarious dialogue and one delightful plot twist after another, "Maybe a Miracle" should, by all rights, become the must-read novel of the new year. At a time when organized religion has coopted words like "faith" and "spirituality," it's nothing short of empowering when Strause effortlessly steals those words back for the rest of us. If you've forgotten how to believe ... well, read this book. You won't be disappointed :)

wonderful writing that tells a great story

What a gem this book is! With a story as fresh and bizarre as you could hope for, and a young narrator that views the world through prematurely jaded eyes, this wonderful debut novel carries readers along on a weird new path through very familiar landscape. Set in suburban America, the lifestyle and characters are known to us all, but the family tragedy that turns life into an everyday circus makes "Maybe a Miracle" far more compelling than your average family drama. Monroe, the narrator, is a wonderful story teller-- his take on the events that unfold is cynical and wry, but with an unmistakable tenderness and longing for a return to normalcy. He wishes he could be more optimistic about the future of his comatose beloved little sister, but it doesn't seem to be in his nature. However, while he doubts his mother's certainty that Annika is "still in there", just to play it safe he plays Parliament Funkadelic records for her, to balance out the Neil Diamond their mother is blasting her with. His voice and his actions ring true on every page. But truer still are the confessions he makes to us, the readers. He tells us the things he would never speak aloud-- not to his parents, who probably wouldn't listen anyway, and certainly not to his sadistic older brother, who takes every word or action from Monroe as a new opportunity to humiliate and abuse him. But as the readers, we get to hear the whole story-- his bitterness, his fear, and his hope, quickly fading though it is. I found myself cheering him on at times, wanting to throttle him at others, but always caring what happened next. This book is touching, compelling, and very funny. My only disappointment is the book's title; "Maybe a Miracle" is far too lackluster and simpering to really give a reader any glimpse of how cool this book is.

A profound and readable novel with nuanced characters and witty, honest prose

It is rare these days to be propelled through a novel by the sheer force of wanting to know what will happen next. A young writer who can, through both style and subject, achieve that kind of urgency is a rare find indeed. With his debut novel MAYBE A MIRACLE, Brian Strause proves to be just such a stroke of literary luck. He has developed a plot that is compulsively readable, while also achieving nuanced character development, wit and honesty in his prose. Strause is a refreshing new voice in the female-dominated world of nuanced and quirky family dramas; tales that are deceptively small-scale --- depicting one family's very unique story --- but nevertheless have resounding impact. Nestled between the lines of this deceptively sweet, fable-esque story, fundamental issues of faith, family, life, death, voyeurism and the media play themselves out. Unlike many a modern novelist, Strause never makes the self-aggrandizing declaration that he will tackle these "big ideas" --- he is never politically preachy or socially smug. Crucial to this novel's disarming nature --- and one of the key ways to Strause's tackling of grander themes without coming off as pompous or pretentious --- is its narrator, Monroe Anderson. Monroe is an exceptional voice, wry and cynical --- a perfectly believable teenage boy --- but with an innate sweetness that shines through despite his own best intentions. Monroe himself would loathe to be labeled as sweet, to be called optimistic or engaging, and yet readers will find themselves fully devoted to him, allowing him to paint the story as it unfolds. The story starts on the night of his senior prom as Monroe goes into his backyard to smoke a joint before he meets his girlfriend and finds his younger sister floating facedown in the pool. Readers are thrust with Monroe into the spiral of events that unfold around him. It is to Strause's credit that Monroe is such a nuanced and subtle character, one that feels so deeply realized and honest. One can't help but imagine that Strause culled much of Monroe from his own experience as a teenage boy. There is a palpable sense of the writer's duty to paint a ruefully honest portrait of a teenage boy who is both sweetly flawed yet deeply compassionate. In the wake of all the aspiring Holden Caulfields, contemptuous of the flawed adults around them and sneering their way through bumpy adolescence, Monroe is a revelatory creation. The other members of Monroe's family are similarly well-drawn, each reacting to Annika's accident and the events that follow in unique and believable, yet unexpected, fashions. The rose petals that fall from the sky outside Annika's hospital room and her tendency to spontaneously bleed from her hands only complicate matters, as the masses flock to see this "Miracle," and each of them --- Monroe, his mother, his father, his grandfather and his older brother --- must somehow contend with the very bizarre nature of this young girl's celebrity. Monroe's mother desce

Blown Away

This is exactly the book I've been waiting for. I picked up this book two days ago, and just finished it - I kept thinking I should savor it - since the writing is so amazing, but I literally couldn't put it down. I would say that Strause's writing places this book in the category of instant classic: seemingly effortless yet full of rich insight. I imediately identified with the dynamics of a family under unusual strain - adjusting and readjusting to shifting circumstances that are completey unexpected. But my favorite thing about this book would have to be the narrator - Monroe. He joined the ranks of some of my favorite literary characters, occupying a vaulted place in my imagination-mostly because he made me laugh so hard at times with his searing observations that I was competely exhilirated by meeting him. I not only recommend this book, I'm stuffing it in several stockings (yeah, they'll get stretched out of shape) this season.