{"product_id":"book-1nje","title":"This Census-Taker","description":"\u003cb\u003eFor readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, David Mitchell, and Karen Russell, \u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning, uncanny, and profoundly moving novella from multiple-award-winning and bestselling author China Miéville.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries—and fails—to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e When at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Filled with beauty, terror, and strangeness, \u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e is a poignant and riveting exploration of memory and identity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“China Miéville is a magician … who can both blow your mind with ideas as big as the universe and break your heart with language so precise and polished, it’s like he’s writing with diamonds.”\u003cb\u003e—NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The book haunts the reader; \u003ci\u003ewhat actually happened\u003c\/i\u003e seems always just out of reach, glimpsed in shadow as it rounds a corner ahead of our vision.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[Mieville’s] been compared to Karen Russell and George Saunders, and rightfully so.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Huffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Marvellous.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Lingers in the mind like an unsettling dream.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A thought-provoking fairy tale for adults … [\u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e] resembles the narrative style, quirkiness, and plotting found in the works of Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, or Steven Millhauser.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Brief and dreamlike … a deceptively simple story whose plot could be taken as a symbolic representation of an aspect of humanity as big as an entire society and as small as a single soul.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":66723695165744,"sku":"BD1nje","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/1nje-Square-cover.jpg?v=1777954896","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-1nje","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}