![]() ![]() ![]() Celia moves to California, finding work as a social worker. Alec, prone to panic as a child, works as a journalist in New York, sometimes indulging in anonymous gay sex. Margaret tries to occupy herself with her work in a library, but John’s ghost is never far from her mind. The rest of the novel spans decades, and the point of view switches between John’s widow and kids. And he’s left behind his wife, Margaret, and his three children, Michael, Celia and Alec. Not long after, he walks into a forest and slits his wrist. And eventually that’s exactly what happens, though it doesn’t involve two kids in a motorless boat at sea. John’s goal, it seems, is to prepare his children for a worst case scenario. ![]() “Imagine me gone, imagine it’s just the two of you,” he instructs his children. He decides to give them a test– he kills the engine of the boat, lies down and closes his eyes. The title of Adam Haslett’s unforgettable second novel comes from a scene early in the book, when John, a businessman who has struggled most of his life with mental illness, embarks on a boat trip with his two youngest children, Celia and Alec. In the 30 Books in 30 Days series leading up to the March 16 announcement of the 2016 National Book Critics Circle award winners, NBCC board members review the thirty finalists. Today, NBCC board member Michael Schaub offers an appreciation of fiction finalist Adam Haslett's Imagine Me Gone (Liveright). ![]()
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