I'm Trying to Reach You

by Barbara Browning

Overview

* The Believer Book Award Finalist
* One of the Best Books of 2012 —BuzzFeed
“I was in Zagreb the day that Michael Jackson died. When I heard the news, the first thing I thought was, That’s it. That’s the first line of my novel. ‘I was in Zagreb the day that Michael Jackson died.’”

First Michael Jackson, then Pina Bausch. Next is Merce Cunningham.

Gray Adams, a former dancer with the Royal Swiss Ballet at work on his dissertation at NYU, has a theory spurred by countless hours of YouTube-based procrastination: Someone is killing these famous dancers! (And he may bear an uncanny resemblance to Jimmy Stewart, circa Vertigo.)

I’m Trying to Reach You is a moving and candid contemporary look at how we process grief, as well as how we love and communicate with one another.

"A provocative novel... that blurs the boundaries between life and performance, dance, art, and viral video. The novel is also framed in the world of performance art and is itself its own kind of performance... and feels rightly reflective of a moment when dance is pushing the boundaries of what constitutes a performance space." —Slate

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780983247159
Publisher:	Two Dollar Radio
Publication date:	07/17/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Barbara Browning is the author of the novel The Correspondence Artist. She teaches in the Department of Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. She's also a poet and dancer, and lives with her son in Greenwich Village.

Editorial Reviews

Set in New York City, Browning's media-saturated and humorous second novel (after The Correspondence Artist) follows Gray Adams, a 46-year-old gay African-American ex-ballet dancer, as he revises his dissertation on semaphore in dance during a post-doc at NYU. The novel opens, however, in Zagreb, Croatia at an international performance studies conference on the day that Michael Jackson dies. Gray, like many others, takes to YouTube to cope and stumbles upon a mysterious video in which a woman in a black leotard dances to the music of Erik Satie; the connection to Michael Jackson is tenuous, though the danseuse does moonwalk. In subsequent chapters, other cultural icons perish—including modern dance choreographers Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham, and famed inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, Les Paul. Gray begins to follow the YouTube channel of the enigmatic dancer, who seems to create new videos related to each death. To add to her mystique, Gray notices that one of her YouTube commenters is taken with her, while the other hints at murderous intent. As Gray muses on the meaning of the videos, the extent of his loneliness comes to light, and Browning's characteristic theoretical overlays complicate and deepen his experiences. Deftly blending highbrow intellectual concerns with the informality of Facebook-era communiques, Browning's newest is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. (June)

Publishers Weekly

* The Believer Book Award Finalist

* One of the Best Books of 2012 —BuzzFeed

"[Browning’s] books aren’t even just books, they’re multimedia art projects. I think I love this book so much because it contains intimations of the potential of what books can be in the future, and also because it’s hilarious."
—Emily Gould, BuzzFeed

"A provocative novel... that blurs the boundaries between life and performance, dance, art, and viral video. The novel is also framed in the world of performance art and is itself its own kind of performance... and feels rightly reflective of a moment when dance is pushing the boundaries of what constitutes a performance space."
—Slate

"The novel shows ambitious scope, encompassing everything from critical theory to the relationship between Merce Cunningham and John Cage.”
—Lambda Literary Review

"Recommended to anyone... who wants to experience a multimedia novel blurring genres and means of communication as well as the boundary between the author and her fictional narrative.”
—New York Journal of Books

"I'm Trying to Reach You is another stunning work, one that smartly explores love and grief in a modern culture that often connects through social media.”
—Largehearted Boy

"Deftly blending highbrow intellectual concerns with the informality of Facebook-era communiques, Browning's newest is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Exquisite storytelling at its finest. I’m Trying to Reach You cultivates our relationship addiction with YouTube and our desire for interconnectivity while illuminating what it means to strive, cope and love with all of our heart, brain, body and soul. It is all here. Browning writes with humor, wit, grace and passion to the human purpose, mortality and the joys of existence. Start reading.”
—Karen Finley 

"The writing of Barbara Browning reminds me of the young, spirited Françoise Sagan whose first three novelsBonjour tristesse (1954), Un certain sourire (1955) and Aimez-vous Brahms? (1959), were written when she was still in her teens and early twenties and are beyond brilliantine. The film version of Bonjour Tristesse 1957 was directed by Otto Preminger starring a lovely Jean Seberg. If only Mr. Preminger were alive today to direct a filmed adaptation of Ms. Browning's I'm Trying to Reach You. That would be granada."
—Vaginal Creme Davis

From the Publisher