The Living End

by Stanley Elkin

Overview

Elkin’s darkly comic novel of the afterlife—the story of one man’s redemptive journey to hell and back

When he is killed during a holdup at his Minneapolis liquor store, Ellerbee’s bad luck is only beginning. After a short stint in heaven, Ellerbee is banished to hell, abruptly and without explanation. What follows is a surreal and memorable adventure that brings Ellerbee face-to-face not only with his murderer’s accomplice, but also with God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and a host of others, all in his quest for salvation unlike any other. Moving and witty, The Living End is a hilarious send-up of afterlife clichés and a masterful exploration of the absurdities of human existence. This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781453204405
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	10/26/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	133
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Stanley Elkin (1930–1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award–winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches and Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh’s Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.

Stanley Elkin (1930–1995) was an award-winning author of novels, short stories, and essays. Born in the Bronx, Elkin received his BA and PhD from the University of Illinois and in 1960 became a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis where he taught until his death. His critically acclaimed works include the National Book Critics Circle Award–winners George Mills (1982) and Mrs. Ted Bliss (1995), as well as the National Book Award finalists The Dick Gibson Show (1972), Searches and Seizures (1974), and The MacGuffin (1991). His book of novellas, Van Gogh’s Room at Arles, was a finalist for the PEN Faulkner Award.

Editorial Reviews

The final volume in the publisher's reprint series of Elkin's titles, this 1979 comedic novel introduces Mr. Ellerbee, who lands in hell after being killed in a liquor store holdup. That was just the beginning of our protagonist's bad luck as he finds that what he considered life's minor offenses, e.g., taking the Lord's name in vain, are grievous violations that carry severe penalties. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

This short novel exhibits the author’s sardonic fatalism, a kind of humor so dark that, before the work closes, it’s more sad--or angry--than funny. A basically good man dies in a stickup, finds himself in hell, whence proceed comic misadventures. Elkin gives his dramatis personae an endearing quality--except for God, who is a petulant, willful despot. George Guidall, one of the best audiobook narrators, misses none of the beats. Wisely, he reads with a comic tone, but without the comic timing of gags that would turn satire into the Three Stooges. He stints on none of the drama, yet pulls back on the bigger moments to keep them from turning bathetic. His interpretation conjures up a phantasmagoria by Hieronymus Bosch in a prankish mood. If he errs, it’s in his inability to give Joseph, a minor character here as in the New Testament, the Yiddish inflections the author wrote for him. There is something of Dostoyevsky as much as of Elkin in Guidall’s horrifically funny afterlife, something bigger than the text he reads from. Y.R. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine

MAR/APR 98 - AudioFile