War of the Encyclopaedists

Product Description

'It was the Friday before Independence Day and the twentysomethings of early-millennium Seattle were celebrating alcohol and freedom as they had done every Friday since time immemorial . . .'

Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy - the Encyclopaedists - are throwing their last party. Halifax is heading to Boston and grad school. Mickey, on the other hand, is taking a platoon to Iraq.

Students of life and literature, neither man is ready for the real world - especially now they are separated by thousands of miles. Alone each must face love and death, essays and bullets, their tricky, overlapping relationships with Mani and Tricia. Their only connection is the Encyclopaedists' Wikipedia page, which the pair update regularly. But what happens when the careless and carefree turn tragic?

Extraordinary, woven together with enormous energy, wit and verve. An extremely moving story, hugely ambitious.' Sunday Times

'Beautifully written, haunting.' Guardian

'Rather brilliant, shrewd, funny and heartfelt. It's like Franzen crossed with David Abram's Fobbit.' Independent

'Massive in scale. In addition to being a novel about the war in Iraq, this is also a novel about Wikipedia, a coming-of-age novel, a campus novel, a book about love, betrayal, friendship and phonies. The authors' ingenuity is everywhere on show. Clever things abound.' TLS

'A terrific coming-of-age novel. Old-fashioned excellence.' The Times