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Pew: A Novel Paperback – July 20, 2021
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WINNER of the 2021 NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award. Finalist for the 2021 Dylan Thomas Prize. Longlisted for the 2021 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. One of Publishers Weekly's Best Fiction Books of 2020. One of Amazon's 100 Best Books of 2020.
“The people of this community are stifling, and generous, cruel, earnest, needy, overconfident, fragile and repressive, which is to say that they are brilliantly rendered by their wise maker, Catherine Lacey.” --Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers
A figure with no discernible identity appears in a small, religious town, throwing its inhabitants into a frenzy
In a small, unnamed town in the American South, a church congregation arrives for a service and finds a figure asleep on a pew. The person is genderless and racially ambiguous and refuses to speak. One family takes in the strange visitor and nicknames them Pew.
As the town spends the week preparing for a mysterious Forgiveness Festival, Pew is shuttled from one household to the next. The earnest and seemingly well-meaning townspeople see conflicting identities in Pew, and many confess their fears and secrets to them in one-sided conversations. Pew listens and observes while experiencing brief flashes of past lives or clues about their origin. As days pass, the void around Pew’s presence begins to unnerve the community, whose generosity erodes into menace and suspicion. Yet by the time Pew’s story reaches a shattering and unsettling climax at the Forgiveness Festival, the secret of who they really are―a devil or an angel or something else entirely―is dwarfed by even larger truths.
Pew, Catherine Lacey’s third novel, is a foreboding, provocative, and amorphous fable about the world today: its contradictions, its flimsy morality, and the limits of judging others based on their appearance. With precision and restraint, one of our most beloved and boundary-pushing writers holds up a mirror to her characters’ true selves, revealing something about forgiveness, perception, and the faulty tools society uses to categorize human complexity.
- Print length224 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPicador
- Publication dateJuly 20, 2021
- Dimensions5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
- ISBN-101250798531
- ISBN-13978-1250798534
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Unsettling, mundane, and funny, Lacey’s fictions sometimes read as if characters let loose from Beckett were wandering through a recognizable, even realist landscape . . . [Pew is] the logical and relentless development of this bold young writer’s previous work . . .Pew is a brave book, in both concept and execution." --James Wood, The New Yorker
"Marvelously elusive . . . I have thought about characterizing it as a work of Southern Gothic in the vein of Flannery O’Connor, as a political-religious fable reminiscent of Margaret Atwood, as a Shirley Jackson-esque piece of small-town horror, and even as a sly update on Mark Twain’s great story 'The Mysterious Stranger.' Each comparison seems right from certain angles and insufficient from others. Like its ambiguous title character, the novel resists definition." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
"Catherine Lacey, a fiction wunderkind who writes with dynamite, has recreated herself, and our ideas about what novels can do, yet again." --Vulture
"Potent -- and timely . . . Lacey is a gifted writer, on par with the best of horror writers at ratcheting up tension . . . Lacey makes a strong case against the human desire to size up and categorize the people we meet." --Patty Rhule, USA Today
"Told in Pew’s spare, elegiac voice, Lacey’s third novel is an ambitious story of compassion, cruelty, and belonging, as well as a powerful exploration of the dangers posed by white guilt and institutionalized religion." --Adrienne Westenfeld, Esquire
"The most impressive feat Lacey has accomplished in her newest novel is the ambitious construction of the narrator . . . a work that evokes the same presumptions and privileges in the reader as it does in its characters ― particularly those of the townsfolk . . . For anyone who values literature that tests commonly held standards regarding what a character should be and how they are developed, this is a book not to be missed. Its success at pushing beyond preconceived ideas about a character’s identity and narratorial credence will be discussed among writers for years to come." --Ryan Smernoff, Los Angeles Review of Books
"Lacey works at the provocative end of contemporary American fiction, and Pew is her sharpest novel yet: a tale of the quiet savagery of “good” intentions, and the tyranny – and ecstasy – of belonging . . . . There is a fallen-to-Earth quality about Lacey’s amnesiac, androgynous confidante: part space alien, part unwitting, or unwilling, messiah; a kind of ethereal cultural anthropologist." --Beejay Silcox, The Times Literary Supplement
"Lacey’s fourth novel is splendid ― beautifully written and pleasingly concise, with an eerie atmosphere somehow perfect for times in which, as one character remarks, 'everything is just so strange lately' . . . All this ambiguity might sound exasperating to readers as well. It’s not. . . I can’t over-emphasise how sweetly, swiftly and entertainingly this book proceeds, or how exquisitely the prose is crafted on every page." --Lionel Shriver, Financial Times
"Though the broad strokes might seem familiar, at every turn Lacey resists conventional developments . . . What’s most impressive is Lacey’s restraint―like Pew, she remains an observer, withholding judgment without sparing any detail. A fabulist tale with no prescribed moral, Pew has the thrum of a foreshock, setting the reader on edge with the unlikely omens of hospitality and attrition." --Danette Chavez, A.V. Club
"This modern fable, written from and for an America consumed by identity politics, illustrates just how deeply embedded the impulse toward othering runs in this country . . . This highly disassociated relation between Pew and their body produces some of the most stirring, beautiful sentences in the novel while chipping away at society’s compulsion to organize itself according to how our bodies look." --Connor Goodwin, Seattle Times
"[A] puzzle of a novel . . . Lacey has always been an economical writer, and she is as taut as she’s ever been here . . . These monologues make sections of the book read like Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy blended with the creeping unease of Ari Aster’s horror film Midsommar . . . it is within [Pew's] messier reaches, and its concerns with inequality and prejudice, that its boldest and most brilliant effects are found." --Chris Power, The Guardian (Book of the Day)
"It needs authorial guts to write a novel in which details are shrouded, meaning is concealed and little is certain. Step up Catherine Lacey, and welcome. . . . There’s a whiff of Shirley Jackson in the air . . . [Pew is] ultimately intriguing. It keeps you thinking, and you can’t ask for much more than that." --John Self, Spectator (London)
"Powerful . . . [a] rich, enigmatic novel." --Anthony Cummins, The Observer (London)
"An alarmingly discomfiting, sublimely written novel . . . Pew is a masterpiece of misdirection . . . This is a novel about preconception, moral blindness and the long fingers of guilt." --Stuart Kelly, The Scotsman
"Pew is muted and opaque, the prose spare and clean, the story told with the disaffected eye of a documentarian . . . Pew, in focusing on the big issues of the day – race, gender, and immigration – compels us to pause, reflect, and then interrogate our own hard-wired beliefs and prejudices." --Ian Mond, Locus
"[A] haunting fable about morality and self-delusion . . . Lacey―spare and elegant as ever―creates a story that feels at the same time mythological and arrestingly like life. Darkly playful; a warning without a moral." --Kirkus (starred review)
"An ambitious, powerful fable of identity and belief . . . Lacey’s talent shines in this masterful work, her best yet." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Lacey's quietly provocative novel is brilliantly composed. She shines a light on the complexity of humans and the dangers of judging and categorizing others based on appearance, as Pew’s ambiguity reveals the true nature of her characters." --Booklist
“A stranger comes to town, and takes us with them into their estrangement among the denizens of a conservative religious community. The people of this community are stifling, and generous, cruel, earnest, needy, overconfident, fragile and repressive, which is to say that they are brilliantly rendered by their wise maker, Catherine Lacey.” --Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers
“The mercurial and electric Catherine Lacey has now conjured up an of-the-moment fable of trauma and projection – one part Kaspar Hauser, one part James Purdy, and one part Rachel Cusk. The pages shimmer with implication.” --Jonathan Lethem, author of The Feral Detective
“I consumed Pew. It is the electric charge we need.” --Daisy Johnson, author of Everything Under
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Picador (July 20, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250798531
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250798534
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #76,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #279 in Southern Fiction
- #1,933 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #5,852 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Catherine Lacey is the author of five books— Biography of X, Nobody Is Ever Missing, The Answers, Pew, and the story collection Certain American States. Her honors include a Whiting Award, a Guggenheim fellowship, and the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book great and interesting. They also describe the pacing as interesting and thought-provoking. However, opinions are mixed on the writing style, with some finding it excellent and well-rounded, while others say it seems contrived and convoluted.
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Customers find the book readable.
"...This was the perfect book for me: so perfect that I read it a second time almost immediately after my first read...." Read more
"Wow. This is such an incredible book. I loved the premise, the writing style, everything." Read more
"An Enjoyable Read..." Read more
"Great read!..." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some mention it's interesting and thought-provoking, while others say it's pointless and leaves them with little answers.
"I was blown away, both by the author’s unique prose and the way she wove together all of the characters’ monologues into one novel concept...." Read more
"...This is a great example of a story that centers on a very judgmental portion of the United States & how a community’s good intentions pave the path..." Read more
"...But read it knowing that the end leaves you with little answers. But... I think that was perhaps the authors intention." Read more
"...But I recognize the artistry with which the author created a believable imagined world, the importance and universality of the themes she explores..." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing style. Some mention it's excellent, while others say it seems contrived and convoluted.
"...This is truly the only one of its kind of book - it’s written in an unusual way, but I found that it kept me captivated & unbiased when trying to..." Read more
"...It was a bit too convoluted and I'm hesitant to use that word because it really wasn't all that complex...." Read more
"...Lacey's third novel is beautifully written and probably could be categorized as southern noire a la William Faulkner or Daniel Woodrell...." Read more
"Lots of detail, little plot. I have little idea of what was going on, what it meant, how it ended. Sorry I wasted any money on it...." Read more
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Strange & beguiling - only one of it’s kind
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2024
The rest of the book moved smoothly, except when the main character, Pew, had one of their unconnected, existential inner monologues. It was almost irritating how little sense they made in the context.
What I found most interesting and thought-provoking were the monologues and life stories from the other characters.
I hoped for a lot more by the end of the novel and was left empty handed. It was a bit too convoluted and I'm hesitant to use that word because it really wasn't all that complex. I understood, in general, what the author was trying to convey... it just wasn't conveyed well. Almost like she was writing and not even paying attention to what she was writing and then decided it sounded profound enough to print, even though it was just balderdash.
As a Christian, I was interested in the perspective of someone who is obviously unsure and almost antithetical towards religion at times, specifically Christianity. There are truths in her perspective and there are overgeneralizations.
I would recommend it because it was interesting and strange and unexpectedly suspenseful. But read it knowing that the end leaves you with little answers. But... I think that was perhaps the authors intention.
Lacey's third novel is beautifully written and probably could be categorized as southern noire a la William Faulkner or Daniel Woodrell. Is this a fable or a parable or a dreamscape? The strangeness of both the visitor and the tale itself give the reader plenty to ruminate about.