I. [Hardcover]

Stephen Dixon (Author), Daniel Clowes (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

The long-awaited novel by master Stephen Dixon, twice a finalist for the National Book Award, I. is a searingly powerful and seemingly autobiographical novel  in the form of linked stories  that explores the limitations of memory and the frustrations of the narrator's life, as he cares for his two daughters and his handicapped wife, whose condition worsens as the narrator struggles with his own sense of mortality. I. is hardcover, with cover art by acclaimed graphic novelist Dan Clowes.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Reading this novel made up of interlinked stories can feel like being trapped in a small room with someone who insists on telling you every damn thing that crosses his mind. I., the hero, is an older writer stuck in a life that seems increasingly hard to endure: his wife is chronically ill, his two daughters find him difficult at best, and he is often gripped by an unfocussed and uncontrollable anger. But from this grim material emerges a moving and oddly funny book, as I. takes refuge in reveries of the past, recounting stories of Thanksgiving Day parades, meals in Paris, family quarrels, and the courtship of his wife. He also imagines myriad scenarios that might have happened but didn't; these unlived possibilities underscore the contingency of even our deepest relationships, and the ways in which we can be haunted by the alternatives.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker

Review

For venturesome readers willing to take a chance on a book that tells it like it is. -- San Francisco Chronicle, June 23, 2002

Highly personal, in a few cases embarrassingly intimate, I. is artfully artless, honest and true. -- Washington Post Book World, May 23, 2002

I. is riveting, ambitious fiction. -- Baltimore City Paper, July 17 - 23, 2002

I. serves as a good entree into Dixon's work, and also features arresting cover art by Daniel Clowes. -- The Austin Chronicle, July 5, 2002

This book is capable of breaking your heart like a resolved mathematical proof or breathtaking mountain climb. -- Boston Weekly Dig, July 17 - 24, 2002

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 338 pages
• Publisher: McSweeney's; 1st edition (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971904707
• ISBN-13: 978-0971904705
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,089,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps the best yet, August 18, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: I. (Hardcover)

From the cover to the last page, I. is a terrific book. I've read a few of Stephen Dixon's novels. Some I liked very much and others I respected but struggled to finish. This one may be the most affecting of them all, and it's also a pleasure to read. The emotions are rich and varied. The 'stories' are engrossing for the most part, and the overall impact of them as the book progresses is sneaky, powerful, and sad. The final piece truly is heartbreaking and lovely. Lastly, I must say that the McSweeney's m.o. of tricky storytelling and wacky narratives rarely appeals to me. I was surprised to see that Dixon took his book to them. But by the end of I., I knew why he published with them and why they took it: Dixon really presents the 'uncertain' narrative in a way that is incredibly human and that justifies the use of these techniques. All in all, I. may be Dixon's best book yet and it was certainly a good publishing move for McSweeney's to make. Clowes' cover is great, too.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's Best Kept Secret, June 20, 2002

By 

"50cent-haircut" - See all my reviews

This review is from: I. (Hardcover)

This, in my opinion, is Dixon's most personal and emotionally satisfying novel. "I." is constructed as interconnected stories that examine the various junctions of the life of "I.", a writer who bears much resemblance to Dixon himself. In some chapters, the character contemplates his mortality by comparing his situation with his wife's. In a brilliant, horrific, and funny chapter called 'The Switch', the character imagines that he's bound to the wheelchair, helpless, instead of his wife who in reality is stricken with the illness. Dixon's strengths as a writer shines forth here as I. contemplates and imagines his suicide and its aftermath. The narrative technique is unassuming, but dazzling. Much of the book also deals with recollection and memory, and there are sections when Dixon recalls a particular moment, then stops and realizes something is amiss, then starts all over again by retelling the tale. It's a fine narrative contemplation of the nature of memory and the shifting veracity of recalled details and truths. Dixon's authorial interruption is never contrived, but rather heightens the effect of blurring the line between the fictional character and the author himself. No narrative device serves as pure pyrotechinics; the last chapter 'Again' is resolute and deeply moving as I. (or maybe Dixon himself) remembers and reconstructs the first meeting with his wife over and over again, until finally the story inevitably evolves into a love story of a man who loves this woman, regardless of her illness and despite his having to adjust his life for her.

The writing is never sentimental, and it's straightforward. Dixon's paragraphs sometimes run for pages, and they remind you of Thomas Bernhard's eloquent paragraphs - but Dixon's style is more accessible. This is writing that's disturbingly funny, affecting, and serious (in the best sense of the word). There isn't an American writer like him, and his recognition is well overdue. A fine book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible I., January 24, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: I. (Hardcover)

I cannot recommend this novel more highly. Dixon travels between acute humour and sadness, with everything in between, unselfconsciouslessly moving beyond his own metafictional self-consciousness. The last section of I. is profoundly moving in an absolutely unconventional way. Dixon's writing is both transgressive and accessable, and I hope that in the coming years he will begin to recieve the wider readership that he has so long deserved.