Dave Reidy, author of the novel THE VOICEOVER ARTIST, joins Tobias Carroll of Vol. 1 Brooklyn for a night of reading and conversation.
In a series of first-person narratives, THE VOICEOVER ARTIST tells the story of Simon Davies, a stutter-plagued young man who breaks an eighteen-year silence to chase companionship and his dream of becoming a voice on the radio. Writer and essayist Tobias Carroll, co-founder of Vol. 1 Brooklyn, sits down with Reidy to discuss his second book of fiction and debut novel.
A very brief reading precedes the discussion. Casual book-signing to follow. Drinks and music until midnight.
Praise for THE VOICEOVER ARTIST:
“Reidy’s portrayal of Simon’s anxieties and insecurities, both throughout his years of silence and later in his bid to be heard, is moving and honest. The love-hate relationship between Simon and Connor is a stirring depiction of a troubled sibling bond, while the unique insider’s look at the voiceover world is informative and entertaining.”— Booklist
” . . . rich and varied . . . . an energetic parade of characters and voices . . . .”—Kirkus Reviews
“Well-drawn women—mother, agent, lover, church ladies, divorcee, lonely hearts—figure prominently.”—Critic Anne Moore in Crain’s Chicago Business
“I often wonder what happens in a person’s life to change him from a boy to a man. But brothers don’t change from a brother into something else. They remain brothers. As a man, being and having a brother might start to feel claustrophobic. No way out. Dave Reidy’s The Voiceover Artist examines this from every angle. This novel is brotherhood, is boyhood, is manhood. How poignant that these characters are searching for their voices while attempting to use these voices to make a living. There is family, life, raw realness to be found in their father’s stutter, in their jealousy and love for each other, in every word of Reidy’s book.”
—Lindsay Hunter, author of the novel Ugly Girls (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) and the story collections Don’t Kiss Me (FSG Originals) and Daddy’s (featherproof)
“My first thought picking this book up was what if Binx Bolling [of Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer] were really Catholic and winds up not glib in New Orleans but stuttering in Chicago? This is a completely errant, if not arrant, idea. The Voiceover Artist is a broad, ambitious, multifaceted, exacting set of portraits of some very twisted folk. They are their own analysts, viciously jockeying to win. Mr. Reidy can be frightening.”
—Padgett Powell, Whiting Award winner and author of six novels, including You & Me (Ecco)