The Perfect Order of Things

Review ...a masterpiece of irony, subversive humour and astonishing self-mockery.... a beguiling book...Gilmour handles his material with style and finesse, with a delicious sense of irony and with a creative jouissance. Here is a novel that gleams with intelligence, humour and wickedly precise observation. Read it, and wince., Globe and MailOften books are judged by how they keep readers reading; much has to be said for the book that makes you stop in wonder. The Perfect Order of Things is such a book, and Gilmour's sensitive and cultivated nurturing of narrative provides a pleasure beyond words., Edmonton JournalTaken as a memoir, or as a volume of collected prose, The Perfect Order of Things is a success; each piece is a pleasure to read. Gilmour's writing is always sharp, at times tender, at others caustically humorous. There is a wealth of engaging stories here that Gilmour handles with economy and considerable craft., National Post...if there's a damaged character in any of [David Gilmour's] novels, it's the narrator. Like a waspy Woody Allen, this persona is always as self-obsessed as he is self-aware, a combination that makes for a lot of humour., Toronto StarWhat is undeniable... is Gilmour's seemingly effortless facility at turning a sentence, his searing honesty and self-awareness... Life, said Kierkegaard, can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards. Gilmour's novel, in all its messiness, is a testament to a well-lived life, and the understanding that comes with a certain age., www.stevenwbeattie.comThe Gatsby references pile up. Like the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic, Gilmour's prose has a polished translucence, which has always been a strength of his short, almost delicate novels., Winnipeg Free PressThis book provides motivation to live and feel life more fully. It's an outstanding work...Gilmour's best yet., www.literarytourist.comThis novel stands on its own: comic, moving, a passing parade of stories, each more fascinating than the one before., The Sun TimesThe work is passionate in its championing of art itself., Quill and QuireThere might not be a more honest writer in Canada., National Post Product Description Like a tourist visiting his own life, David Gilmour’s narrator journeys in time to reexamine those critical moments that created him. He revisits the terrible hurt of a first love, the shock of a parent’s suicide, the trauma of a best friend’s bizarre dissembling, and the pain and humiliation of unrelenting jealousy, among other rites of passage. Set within an episodic narrative arc stories about the profound effect of Tolstoy, of theBeatles, of the cult of celebrity, of the delusion of drugs, and of the literary life on the winding road of the narrator’s progress. This compelling and deeply interesting picaresque novel is a creative tour de force from the hand of one of our master storytellers.The Perfect Order of Thingsbreaks new fictional ground and is an astonishing story of a life lived fully and with breathtaking passion. David Gilmour is a novelist who has earned critical praise from literary figures as diverse as William Burroughs and Northrop Frye, and from publications as different as theNew York TimestoPeople magazine.The author of six novels, he also hosted the award-winning Gilmour on the Arts. In 2005, his novelA Perfect Night to Go to Chinawon the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. His next book,The Film Club, was a finalist for the 2008 Charles Taylor Prize. It became an international bestseller, and has sold over 200,000 copies in Germany and over 100,000 copies in Brazil. He lives in Toronto with his wife. About the Author David Gilmour is a novelist who has earned critical praise from literary figures as diverse as William Burroughs and Northrop Frye, and from publications as different as theNew York TimesandPeoplemagazine. The author of six novels, he also hosted the award-winning Gilmour on the Arts. In 2005, his novelA Perfect Night to