{"product_id":"9781101967348","title":"This Census-Taker","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFor readers of George Saunders, Kelly Link, David Mitchell, and Karen Russell, \u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning, uncanny, and profoundly moving novella from multiple-award-winning and bestselling author China Miéville.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a remote house on a hilltop, a lonely boy witnesses a profoundly traumatic event. He tries—and fails—to flee. Left alone with his increasingly deranged parent, he dreams of safety, of joining the other children in the town below, of escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen at last a stranger knocks at his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation might be over.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? What is the purpose behind his questions? Is he friend? Enemy? Or something else altogether?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFilled with beauty, terror, and strangeness, \u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e is a poignant and riveting exploration of memory and identity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“China Miéville is a magician . . . who can both blow your mind with ideas as big as the universe and break your heart with language so precise and polished, it’s like he’s writing with diamonds.”\u003cb\u003e—NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The book haunts the reader; \u003ci\u003ewhat actually happened\u003c\/i\u003e seems always just out of reach, glimpsed in shadow as it rounds a corner ahead of our vision.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Mieville’s] been compared to Karen Russell and George Saunders, and rightfully so.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Huffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Marvellous.”\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e—The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Lingers in the mind like an unsettling dream.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A thought-provoking fairy tale for adults . . . [\u003ci\u003eThis Census-Taker\u003c\/i\u003e] resembles the narrative style, quirkiness, and plotting found in the works of Karen Russell, Aimee Bender, or Steven Millhauser.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Brief and dreamlike . . . a deceptively simple story whose plot could be taken as a symbolic representation of an aspect of humanity as big as an entire society and as small as a single soul.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Random House Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47030345269488,"sku":"9781101967348","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781101967348_p0.jpg?v=1763689956","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781101967348","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}