A stirring new masterpiece from the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award–winning author ofCockroachandDe Niro’s Game.InCarnival, internationally acclaimed author Rawi Hage takes us into the world of Fly, a taxi driver in a crime-ridden apocalyptic metropolis. Raised in the circus, the son of a golden-haired trapeze artist and a flying-carpet man, Fly sees everything, taking in all of the city’s carnivalesque beauty and ugliness as he roves through its dizzying streets in his taxi. Fly is a reader, too, and when he’s not in his taxi he is at home in the equally dizzying labyrinth of books that fills his tiny apartment. His best friend is Otto, a political activist who’s in and out of jails and asylums, mourning his dead wife and lost foster son. On one otherwise tawdry night Fly meets Mary, a book-loving passenger with a domineering husband. So begins a romance that is, for Fly, a brief glimmer of light amid the shadows and grit of the Carnival city.Along with Otto and Mary, Fly introduces us to madmen and revolutionaries, magicians and prostitutes as he picks them up and drops them off, traveling through a nightmarish town that is—we can’t help but notice—a parable for our own debauched, unjust world.Wildly imaginative and darkly ironic,Carnivalis a magnificent achievement.Review“Rawi Hage is, quite simply, a brilliant writer…Carnivalconfirms Hage’s status as a star in the literary firmament.” (Toronto Star)
“Imagine Camus rewritingTaxi Driver.” (Toronto Life)
“The things that make Rawi Hage a major literary talent include freshness, gut-wrenching lyricism, boldness, emotional restraint, intellectual depth, historical sense, political subversiveness and uncompromising compassion.” (Globe and Mail)
“Carnivalis a rich and compelling read, a testament to a daring and talented novelist.” (National Post) About the AuthorRawi Hageis a writer and visual artist. His two critically acclaimed novels,De Niro’s GameandCockroach, have been translated into twenty-nine languages.De Niro’s Gamewas the winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, andCockroachwas a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Born in Beirut, Hage lives in Montreal.