Reviews
"Ball, who is perhaps the closest contemporary American writer we have to Italo Calvino in ear and mind, excels at wrapping the reader around an empty center--a quiet so potent that it is like the Cagean notion that it is not silence that accentuates sound, but sounds that define the silence." -- Christopher Bollen, Interview "'Jesse Ball' investigates a series of disappearances, a wrongful conviction and a love story in modern-day Osaka, Japan. [He] makes readers' heads spin yet again with a darker but more tempered version of his strange, almost whimsical multimedia creations . . . There's no denying the fascination his aberrant storytelling inspires." --Kirkus Reviews "An increasingly mysterious and conflicted portrait of Oda and his alleged crime. This methodical presentation makes for coolly suspenseful reading, but it's soon clear there is more underlying Ball's investigation than meets the eye . . . Intriguing and offers a riveting portrait of the Japanese criminal justice system." --Publishers Weekly "Silence Once Begun kept me up two nights running. It felt more real than the news and most documentaries and memoirs. Once again, Ball has extended the reach of the novel--of the love story, even--into menacing, freaky new places." --James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street Praise for Jesse Ball "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal "There seems to be no other novelist writing today who is capable of so thoroughly disarming one's narrative expectations." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Sure of hand, unafraid of night . . . Ball is a worthy Virgil through this inferno of our own design." --The New York Times "Take heart: for all the talk about the staleness of the contemporary American novel, here is a young writer unafraid to muddy the waters." --The Daily Beast, Praise for Silence Once Begun "Ball, who is perhaps the closest contemporary American writer we have to Italo Calvino in ear and mind, excels at wrapping the reader around an empty center--a quiet so potent that it is like the Cagean notion that it is not silence that accentuates sound, but sounds that define the silence." -- Christopher Bollen, Interview "Ball's spare, meditative, Rashomon-like novel, a work of exceptional control and exquisite nuance, consists of contradictory transcripts, poetic letters, a striking fable, and melancholy musings. Enigmatic black-and-white photographs add to the subtly cinematic mode. With echoes of Franz Kafka, Paul Auster, and Kobo Abe, Ball creates an elegantly chilling and provocatively metaphysical tale." - Booklist "'Jesse Ball' investigates a series of disappearances, a wrongful conviction and a love story in modern-day Osaka, Japan. [He] makes readers' heads spin yet again with a darker but more tempered version of his strange, almost whimsical multimedia creations . . . There's no denying the fascination his aberrant storytelling inspires." --Kirkus Reviews "An increasingly mysterious and conflicted portrait of Oda and his alleged crime. This methodical presentation makes for coolly suspenseful reading, but it's soon clear there is more underlying Ball's investigation than meets the eye . . . Intriguing and offers a riveting portrait of the Japanese criminal justice system." --Publishers Weekly "Silence Once Begun kept me up two nights running. It felt more real than the news and most documentaries and memoirs. Once again, Ball has extended the reach of the novel--of the love story, even--into menacing, freaky new places." --James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street Praise for Jesse Ball "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal "There seems to be no other novelist writing today who is capable of so thoroughly disarming one's narrative expectations." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Sure of hand, unafraid of night . . . Ball is a worthy Virgil through this inferno of our own design." --The New York Times "Take heart: for all the talk about the staleness of the contemporary American novel, here is a young writer unafraid to muddy the waters." --The Daily Beast, "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal "Coolly suspenseful reading . . . intriguing . . . a riveting portrait of the Japanese criminal justice system." -- Publishers Weekly "[Ball] makes readers' heads spin yet again with a darker but more tempered version of his strange, almost whimsical multimedia creations . . . a whirling collage of court transcripts, family interviews, photographs, and confessions both false and true . . . [T]here's no denying the fascination [Ball's] aberrant storytelling inspires." -- Kirkus Reviews, "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal, "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal "Coolly suspenseful reading . . . intriguing . . . a riveting portrait of the Japanese criminal justice system." -- Publishers Weekly, Praise for Silence Once Begun "Ball, who is perhaps the closest contemporary American writer we have to Italo Calvino in ear and mind, excels at wrapping the reader around an empty center--a quiet so potent that it is like the Cagean notion that it is not silence that accentuates sound, but sounds that define the silence." -- Christopher Bollen, Interview "Ball's spare, meditative, Rashomon-like novel, a work of exceptional control and exquisite nuance, consists of contradictory transcripts, poetic letters, a striking fable, and melancholy musings. Enigmatic black-and-white photographs add to the subtly cinematic mode. With echoes of Franz Kafka, Paul Auster, and Kobo Abe, Ball creates an elegantly chilling and provocatively metaphysical tale." --Booklist "I want to drive home how risky this novel is and how well Ball pulls it off. . . Silence pushes all his buttons and skills into new dark territory and the result is exceptional. For what many will consider a "page-turner" (and really, it does move lightning fast for all the jumps between narrators and storytelling devices) its structure is so delicate, so complicated, it's awe-inspiring. . . Silence Once Begun proves to be his greatest magic trick yet." --Fanzine "'Jesse Ball' investigates a series of disappearances, a wrongful conviction and a love story in modern-day Osaka, Japan. [He] makes readers' heads spin yet again with a darker but more tempered version of his strange, almost whimsical multimedia creations . . . There's no denying the fascination his aberrant storytelling inspires." --Kirkus Reviews "An increasingly mysterious and conflicted portrait of Oda and his alleged crime. This methodical presentation makes for coolly suspenseful reading, but it's soon clear there is more underlying Ball's investigation than meets the eye . . . Intriguing and offers a riveting portrait of the Japanese criminal justice system." --Publishers Weekly "Silence Once Begun kept me up two nights running. It felt more real than the news and most documentaries and memoirs. Once again, Ball has extended the reach of the novel--of the love story, even--into menacing, freaky new places." --James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street Praise for Jesse Ball "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal "There seems to be no other novelist writing today who is capable of so thoroughly disarming one's narrative expectations." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Sure of hand, unafraid of night . . . Ball is a worthy Virgil through this inferno of our own design." --The New York Times "Take heart: for all the talk about the staleness of the contemporary American novel, here is a young writer unafraid to muddy the waters." --The Daily Beast, "'Jesse Ball' investigates a series of disappearances, a wrongful conviction and a love story in modern-day Osaka, Japan. [He] makes readers' heads spin yet again with a darker but more tempered version of his strange, almost whimsical multimedia creations . . . There's no denying the fascination his aberrant storytelling inspires." --Kirkus Reviews "An increasingly mysterious and conflicted portrait of Oda and his alleged crime. This methodical presentation makes for coolly suspenseful reading, but it's soon clear there is more underlying Ball's investigation than meets the eye . . . Intriguing and offers a riveting portrait of the Japanese criminal justice system." --Publishers Weekly "Silence Once Begun kept me up two nights running. It felt more real than the news and most documentaries and memoirs. Once again, Ball has extended the reach of the novel--of the love story, even--into menacing, freaky new places." --James McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street Praise for Jesse Ball "A cutting-edge novelist and poet . . . [Ball is] positioned to break out." --Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal "There seems to be no other novelist writing today who is capable of so thoroughly disarming one's narrative expectations." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Sure of hand, unafraid of night . . . Ball is a worthy Virgil through this inferno of our own design." --The New York Times "Take heart: for all the talk about the staleness of the contemporary American novel, here is a young writer unafraid to muddy the waters." --The Daily Beast
