Praise for Life Among Giants: "Bill Roorbach''s second novel, Life Among Giants , is a larger-than-life production. Yet all of its wild characters feel genuine, their aches and flaws and desires wholly organic; and the plot they''re tangled in moves forward at a breakneck speed. It''s a dizzy romp. There''s murder and intrigue and sex and terror, and Roorbach is generous with it all . Which isn''t to say there isn''t real meat here. Roorbach doesn''t let the novel''s rich entertainment stand in the way of emotional subtlety or homey, down-to-earth prose . [he] seems to relish creating lushly bold biographies for his characters, then getting the shading right--carefully applying depth and warmth and pathos and strange tenderness. These characters are not regular people, but they never feel like caricatures .
Alive, electric and surprisingly dangerous."-- The New York Times Book Review "Hilarious and heartbreaking, wild and wise, Bill Roorbach''s Life Among Giants, which is earning comparisons to The World According to Garp , is a vivid chronicle of a life lived large."-- Parade "A compelling mystery . [Roorbach] knows how--in the best way--to manipulate and misdirect a reader."-- The Columbus Dispatch (a Top Ten Book of 2012) " Life Among Giants is life writ large . A satisfying and very memorable tale."-- Portland Press Herald "Bill Roorbach''s novel Life Among Giants contains no shortage of creative derring-do . The setting and mood at the mansion might have been conjured by Oscar Wilde, Raymond Chandler, and Scott Fitzgerald.
"-- Wichita Public Radio/KMUW " Life Among Giants is stunning . Accurately described as ''a wildly entertaining novel of murder, seduction and revenge. It''s a Gatsby-esque adventure that reveals how sometimes the greatest mystery lies in discovering one''s own heart.'' In simpler terms, it is fascinating. Life Among Giants commands time--to savor its development, then to drink it in as full-bodied wine."-- The Jackson Clarion-Ledger "Roorbach''s John Irving-esque third novel, Life Among Giants , radiates its bemusement with the exquisitely peopled world of upper-middle-class America and the problems money can''t solve." -- A.V.
Club "Good novels are often in the mind of the beholder . A few novels every year, however, transcend the fickleness of individual readers and the boundaries of genre fiction to achieve greatness . Life Among Giants is one of those blessed occurrences . Until now, Roorbach''s nonfiction has outstripped his fiction in quantity and quality . It seems quite likely, however, that in future decades he will be remembered for Life Among Giants . The combination of Roorbach''s memorable characterizations and obvious lust for life leads readers to what might even be called a sort-of happy ending."-- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "The characters in Bill Roorbach''s lush novel Life Among Giants are larger than life, some literally. He manages to make them real despite their outsize abilities .
It could be insufferable to spend an entire book in the company of a group of characters this gifted, but Roorbach makes it enjoyable through his fluid, evocative prose and the farcical elements to the story . What lingers after finishing Life Among Giants is the beauty of Roorbach''s appreciation of his characters'' exceptional physical abilities, as they play football, cook, make love and dance."-- The Dallas Morning News "A bighearted, big-boned story . Life Among Giants reads like something written by a kinder, gentler John Irving . Roorbach is a humane and entertaining storyteller with a smooth, graceful style."-- The Washington Post "Consistently surprising and truly entertaining . Part thriller, part family drama, Life Among Giants is deliciously strange and deeply affecting."-- The Boston Globe "[An] eventful, elegiac novel of sports and murder, food and finance.
"-- Bloomberg News "Complexly plotted, wildly entertaining, and hugely funny."-- Orion Magazine "All this might make a rollicking, often funny, occasionally bawdy and sometimes heartbreaking novel sound heavier than it actually is. Life Among Giants is a long, strange trip, but an enthralling one."-- Wilmington Star-News "Besides being a compelling mystery, the kind to keep one reading well after bedtime, and a novel that almost insists on being immediately reread, Life Among Giants is a reminder of the ways we all shape our lives into stories, and the ways those stories, in turn, shape us."-- The Columbus Dispatch "[Lizard''s and his sister''s] fascinating journey highlights the importance of steering your own fate, and it left me pondering where my own life will lead."-- Real Simple (reader''s review) "A novel of extravagant imagination . Roorbach makes the novel a leisurely mystery as well as a bildungsgroman. It''s also a playful anthropological portrait of American preoccupations in the late 20th century.
"-- Shelf Awareness for Readers , starred review "I hereby nominate Lizard the humongous football player and Sylphide the mysterious ballerina as two of my favorite characters of 2012 . Like early John Irving, Roorbach has crafted a story that''s rollicking and sexy but not shallow or slight. Seven-foot Lizard and petite Sylphide, both giants in their own way, are a pair to behold. Part Gatsby, part Garp, Life Among Giants is an urgent tale of greed, love, and revenge."-- Neal Thompson for Amazon.com (Best Books of the Month Spotlight Selection) "Roorbach has created a memorable narrator who possesses the disarming frankness of Holden Caulfield and whose rapid-fire delivery and cutting characterizations expertly shift between memories and the present moment. Lizard keeps this part-mystery, part-coming-of-age-tale humming, as the cavalcade of revelations rolls by . This is one of those novels you read because you care about what happens to the people and the connections between them as those connections grow, fray, and snap.
By turns surreal and gritty, the book is written with the same muscular grace possessed by the dancers and athletes who are its main characters."-- Booklist "[A] thrilling indulgence, a tale of opulence, love triangles, and madness, set against a sumptuous landscape of lust and feasts . This is a purely Gatsbyesque portrayal of celebrity; David and Sylphide inhabit a galaxy of stars, each more blinding and destructive than the next, drawing intrigue and violence into their orbits."-- Publishers Weekly , boxed review "This ambitious, energetic novel from Roorbach (Big Bend) has something for everyone--steamy sex, rock stars, ballet stars, professional football, a dysfunctional family, an unsolved murder, and a complicated revenge plot."-- Library Journal "Bound to be the breakout hit that Roorbach so richly deserves."-- Wilda Williams for Library Journal "Great set-up, sparkling characters . The rich-and-famous lifestyle is nicely rendered, too. A narrative threaded through with corruption and an appreciable number of love stories.
"-- Kirkus Reviews "This novel is replete with all the stuff of great page-turning pleasure--violent murder, illicit love, mysterious family history--yet never succumbs to the pitfalls of genre or melodrama. Rather, this is a story of extraordinary characters at the mercy of universal passions and disappointments. A giant success."-- Antonya Nelson Praise for The Remedy for Love: Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction "Roorbach . is at the top of his literary game here. He is masterful in inviting readers along, allowing them to slowly get to know these two strangers as they get to know one another. "-- Portland Press Herald "[A] grown-up story that features authentic humor, pain and suspense."-- Richmond Times-Dispatch " The Remedy for Love is a page-turner, a love story and a vivid drama of man (and woman) against the elements.
Those who read and loved Roorbach''s sprawling, eccentric Life Among Giants , coming to HBO as a dramatic series, will be a little surprised to see that The Remedy for Love is nothing like it -- except that it''s a great read by a wonderful writer who obviously has many tricks up his sleeve."-- Newsday "Snowbound in Maine, two strangers struggle to survive--fighting, flirting, baring secrets. Their sexy, snappy dialogue will keep you racing through."-- People "A snowstorm hits a small town in Maine, trapping strangers in.