The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet: A Novel (Paperback)
Summer '10 Reading Group List
“T.S. Spivet, 12-year-old boy genius and cartographer, is a fresh character who will share the wonders of seeing the world through adolescent eyes like no other, making sense of the world by mapping, charting and illustrating everywhere he goes. When the Smithsonian Institution, unaware of his age, offers T.S. a prestigious award, he decides to hop on a train which takes him on a journey from his ranch in Montana to the capital. Reif Larsen has a remarkably original and touching achievement in this first novel. Beautiful maps and illustrations will delight and amaze readers. Truly a must-read!”
— Jeanne Costello, Maria's Bookshop, Durango, CO
May 2009 Indie Next List
“In The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, which is full of observations and maps, we see the world through the eyes of a Cheerios-obsessed 12-year-old with the wisdom of an old soul. This book is funny, tender, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and full of insight. On every page there was something that I wanted to read aloud to anyone who would listen.”
— Jake Hallman, A Great Good Place for Books, Oakland, CA
When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T. S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal—if you consider mapping dinner table conversations normal—is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T. S. from his family home just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum’s hallowed halls.
There are some answers here on the road from Divide and some new questions, too. How does one map the delicate lessons learned about family or communicate the ebbs and flows of heartbreak, loneliness, and love?
Now a major motion picture directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Kyle Catlett and Helena Bonham Carter.
“As much a work of art as it is a warm, compelling story of family ties, science and the importance of understanding the world—and the human heart.” —The Miami Herald
“A mightily impressive debut, a wistful glimpse at that moment when adulthood threatens those
last, vital days of youth.” —Entertainment Weekly
“[A] beautiful book. Each page is literally a work of art….” —Boston Globe
“[A]n ambitious and smart first novel ….This is a book to be read slowly, savored for its digressions and offbeat characters.” —Newsday
“Brimming with idiosyncrasies….endearing and triumphantly original….[a] luscious piece of fiction.” —Elle
“Larsen's instincts are extraordinary.”—The Oregonian
“Spivet’s narration is undeniably funny; not since Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close has a precocious young boy carried a novel so ably.” —The Stranger
“Inventing a preternaturally bright child is always tricky, but Larsen imbues T. S. with his own creditable identity, making him every bit as doubting and overwhelmed as he is precocious and indomitable—he’s a little bundle of paradoxes, with the proper literary DNA of any well-formed character. On top of that, he’s a right laugh, which never hurts.” —Book Forum
“The novel is a cabinet of wonders, an odyssey of self-discovery, a family romance, a symphony of topography, geology and American history. The book hardly seems able to stay between its covers, bulging as it is with so many astonishments, so many crossings of fictional lines.”
—Bookpage
“Reif Larsen has kicked off his literary career with a stunning and beautiful book….Larsen managed to write one of the most highly original novels of the year.” —Bookslut
“Two predictions about The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet: readers are going to love it as much as I did, and few if any will have experienced anything like it. I'm flabbergasted by Reif Larsen's talent, and I was warmed by his generosity. Here is a book that does the impossible: it combines Mark Twain, Thomas Pynchon, and Little Miss Sunshine. Good novels entertain; great ones come as a gift to the readers who are lucky enough to find them. This book is a treasure.”—Stephen King