The World's Room

When seventeen-year-old Erich Hofmann takes his own life in 1969, his younger brother asks to be called by the dead boy's name. Already deeply affected by years of separation and darkly comical disarray, his mother, father, and older sister agree to the request, setting in motion an unspoken conspiracy to keep Erich alive by sacrificing the younger child to his memory. Told nearly two decades later by the surviving "Erich," this haunting, humorous debut novel charts a course through a changing America--and America's denial of death and grief.

First published by Steerforth Press in 2001, The World's Room was acclaimed nationally in the U.S. and hailed by novelist Lorrie Moore as "a stunning first book. Simultaneously warm-hearted and eerie-minded, it is written as if by a spellbinding and spellbound angel." The Washington Post praised its “wry, knowing wit, leaving the reader to marvel that such a sad story can be told so beautifully.” The Los Angeles Times praised it for “the meticulousness of a memoir….as fascinating sociologically as it is rich in narrative.”

"Nothing I’ve read recently except poetry conveys the language of yearning the way this novel does," wrote the judge for the Milestone Best Book Award in 2001. "The author uses his double vision to make us laugh and break our hearts and the same time.”

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Release date

Audiobook: December 16, 2024