Joseph Kertes was born in Hungary but escaped with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956. He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto. His novel Gratitude won the National Jewish Book Award for fiction. Kertes founded Humber College's distinguished creative writing and comedy programs. He is currently Humber's dean of creative and performing arts.
"The Afterlife of Stars blazes with every single good thing that a
work of fiction ever does or could do. It is brilliant.
Radiant."--Richard Bausch, PEN/Malamud Award-winning author
of Peace
"The Afterlife of Stars moved me more than any other novel I've
read in recent memory. It hypnotizes. It delights. It shines on
every page with a quiet, implacable, blanketing beauty-like a
snowfall. Beyond all else, The Afterlife of Stars reaches into your
chest and takes hold of your heart and does not let go, not even
after the last page is turned. The Afterlife of Stars keeps
shining on. What an exquisite novel."--Tim O'Brien, National
Book Award-winning author of The Things They Carried
"The Afterlife of Stars is Joseph Kertes's
masterpiece. Robert Beck, the young narrator, is absolutely
captivating (and very funny!) as he takes us along on his
terrifying journey."
--Miriam Toews, two-time Giller Prize finalist for All My
Puny Sorrows and A Complicated Kindness
"Agony, humor, and a boy's bewilderment and wonder coalesce in
this glittering novel. Joseph Kertes evokes a vanishing culture
with poignancy and love. His boy-narrator is a marvelous
creation."
--D. M. Thomas, Man Booker Prize finalist for The White
Hotel
"The Afterlife of Stars is a great adventure story, at once
fantastical and true. And the inimitable Beck brothers allow us to
see past the horrors of the world with a childlike
precocity."--David Bezmozgis, Two-time Giller Prize finalist
for The Betrayers and The Free World
"The Afterlife of Stars is tender in its evocation of
fierceness and wrenching in its rendering of two brothers' hunger
to penetrate both the wonders and the awful secrets of a world that
always seems just out of reach. It's memorably sad and surprisingly
funny on the elusiveness of home and the intensity of family
bonds."
--Jim Shepard, author of The Book of Aron
"[A] fervent novel. Kertes (Gratitude, 2009), winner of the
National Jewish Book Award, begins his newest work in his own
native Budapest.... [protagonists] Robert and Attila are a winning
pair of guides....Kertes' voice is a lyrical one, and his work is
frequently moving."
--Kirkus Reviews
"A beautifully written story of brotherly love, family, and the
intersection of history in the 20th century."
--Andrea Kempf, Library Journal (Starred Review)
"Devastating yet unnervingly funny....it's not every writer who can
render a scene like this with such verisimilitude so many years
after the fact....What is clear--and unquestionably lucky for
us--is that Kertes's memories survived his own family's flight to
Canada and have found expression in this inspired and deeply
affecting novel. 'I'm not asking for a story for the ages, '
Robert tells his Aunt Hermina. 'I'm asking what happened to you.'
Kertes has given us both."
--Julie Orringer, New York Times Book Review
"Exquisitely moving . . . Kertes is a natural storyteller who
creates vivid characters that resonate on the page."--Elaine
Margolin, Jerusalem Post
"Kertes, who himself escaped Hungary after the 1956 revolution,
delivers a fastpaced and taut narrative that captures how
inscrutable the world's cruelties can be to the children who
witness them. Stirring and haunting, The Afterlife of Stars
memorably shows how the bonds of brotherhood stay strong in a
crisis."
--Bridget Thoreson, Booklist (Starred Review)
"Slender yet consequential...Part of what makes the book so
compelling is its sympathetic portrayal of political refugees at a
time when they are frequently misunderstood at best, and demonized
at worst....But the beating heart of this book is the relationship
between [protagonists] Robert and Attila, a remarkable pair of
brothers whose bond goes beyond affection, beyond shared history,
beyond blood. They are two young men who, once met, you'll never
forget."
--Thane Tierney, Bookpage
"We meet the Beck brothers at the very moment history lays its
claim on them. Their bond is sure to become one of literature's
great and sustaining relationships. Joseph Kertes writes with
tremendous love for the idiosyncratic and passionate loyalties of
family. With masterly concision, he expresses the trauma of an era.
This is a book of remarkable scope and depth; unforgettable and
deeply moving."--Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
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