The Electric Michelangelo [Paperback]

Cy Parks is theElectric Michelangelo, an artist of extraordinary gifts whose medium happens to be the pliant, shifting canvas of the human body. Fleeing his mother's legacy -- a consumptives' hotel in a fading English seaside resort -- Cy reinvents himself in the incandescent honky-tonk of Coney Island in its heyday between the two world wars. Amid the carnival decadence of freak shows and roller coasters, enchanters and enigmas, scam artists and marks, Cy will find his muse: an enigmatic circus beauty who surrenders her body to his work, but whose soul tantalizingly eludes him.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

“Confirms her status as one of the most significant and exciting of our younger novelists.”The torrential Lawrentian flow of her prose offers many heady pleasures.Her gorgeously embellished prose compels the narrative, along with the beguiling vignettes she conjures up . . . the effect is intoxicating.Sarah Halls second novel, is richly descriptive, an evocative exploration of misfits and exiles searching for a home.Twisted and tantalising, this is beatifully written and a worthy successor.The writing is so polished that it is hard to believe the author is only 30.Wildly imagined and richly written. Prose as highly-coloured as Halls has to be savouredA vivid depiction of changing seaside culture.... A smart study of a subtle but desreputable art.The Electric Michelangelo is a work of unusual imaginative power and range.Halls sensuous and brilliant imagery does not disappoint.Sarah Halls second book reads with all the colour, guts and flair of the 19th century tale - spinner.Hall conveys an arresting, colourful and complex world.... Even the most miniscule of nuances fanatically thought through and delivered.The Electric Michelangelo is a pleasure to read.A dazzlingly atmospheric and imaginative read.ló