'A writer questions the architecture of words, struggling to capture his ideas before they are lost; a husband excavating beneath his house becomes mesmerised by silence and disappears in search of solitude; a lighthouse keeper dreams that he is a man dreaming that he is the keeper of a lighthouse.
'Magnificent in its scope and imagery, David Brooks's mastery of the written word is eclipsed in this thought-provoking collection. Both evocative and experimental, Brooks's stories conjure fragments of memory and time, capturing streetscapes and heartscapes in a mosaic-style splendour.
'Lyrical and perceptive, brave and illuminating, Napoleon's Roads explores the richness of language and the possibilities of expression, while exemplifying some of the most sophisticated, polished and beautiful contemporary literature in Australia today.' (Publication summary)
'The breaks in style and point of view match the author's disjointed search through memory to find the lost epiphany that he failed to record in the middle of the night. The information conveyed in this story lacks the purposefulness of the questions posed in "Lost Pages," and though the gaps between segments can create an interesting tension and resonance, the unusual syntax and the lack of cohesion between sections pull the reader out of the story. [...]Napoleon's Roads is an experiment worth conducting, as the places in which fragments resonate across the gap give new perspective on aspects of the human condition.' (Publication abstract)
'The breaks in style and point of view match the author's disjointed search through memory to find the lost epiphany that he failed to record in the middle of the night. The information conveyed in this story lacks the purposefulness of the questions posed in "Lost Pages," and though the gaps between segments can create an interesting tension and resonance, the unusual syntax and the lack of cohesion between sections pull the reader out of the story. [...]Napoleon's Roads is an experiment worth conducting, as the places in which fragments resonate across the gap give new perspective on aspects of the human condition.' (Publication abstract)
