Soft Skull Press

Oval: A Novel

$16.95

Soft Skull Press

Oval: A Novel

$16.95
  • Description

In the near future, Berlin’s real estate is being flipped in the name of “sustainability,” only to make the city even more unaffordable; artists are employed by corporations as consultants, and the weather is acting strange.

When Anja and Louis are offered a rent-free home on an artificial mountain - yet another eco-friendly initiative run by a corporation - they seize the opportunity, but it isn’t long before the experimental house begins malfunctioning.

After Louis’s mother dies, Anja is convinced he has changed. At work, Louis has become obsessed with a secret project: a pill called Oval that temporarily rewires the user’s brain to be more generous. While Anja is horrified, Louis believes he has found the solution to Berlin’s income inequality. Oval is a fascinating portrait of the unbalanced relationships that shape our world, as well as a prescient warning of what the future may hold.

“Elvia Wilk’s Oval is a marvel. At the core of this seductive, acute, superbly-contemporary update of mid-period J.G. Ballard lies a deep-beating, deep-dreaming heart.” -Jonathan Lethem

"A fascinating near-future exploration of relationships, sustainability, and power. An extraordinarily accomplished debut novel." -Jeff VanderMeer, author of Borne and Annihilation

Author: Elvia Wilk
Publisher: Soft Skull Press
Page Count: 182pp
Size: 5.5 x 8.25 x 1.25
Notes: paperback
Date of Publication: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1593764050