Featured Giveaway: Sam Savage's The Cry of the Sloth
By Barbara Hoffert -- Library Journal, 05/21/2009
Who could not love Firmin, that rascally rat who learned how to read and gave us a street's-eye view of 1960s Boston decay and renewal in Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife? Firmin was 2006's little book that could, becoming an ALA Notable Book, a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, and winner of the Pen L.L. Winship and a Society of Midland Authors awards. That year, I snapped it up immediately for my Top Fiction Debut retrospective; it's the sort of success story I like to see, a wholly original small-press title by a 65-year-old up-and-comer that both delights and instructs.
Sam Savage's second novel, The Cry of the Sloth (Coffee House Press, Booth 4516), promises to repeat Firmin's success—in its own way. The protagonist is a rumpled and nutty literary journal editor, aspiring novelist, and slipshod landlord who records his tumble of thoughts over a four-month period. Would you want to have drinks with this guy? Maybe not, but you know he has something important to say. Click here for our complete BEA galley giveaway guide.
