"Metcalf's masterpiece undermines the idea of authorship while showing a way forward for the novel."
Stephen Sparks, The Scofield "by cobbling together disparate extracts from a variety of sources, Metcalf has recreated that uniquely readerly revelation of finding in unrelated literature of all kinds resonances and echoes that inform one's lived experience."
Full Stop "Metcalf's investigation of the darkness lying at ... Read morethe heart of human existence is bold, unsentimental and unsparing. One of his quotes from Melville tells it all: "Bail out your individual boat, if you can, but the sea abides."
Lively Arts "Any great book
and yes, Genoa is emphatically great
transcends the tricks in how it was made. It's hard to explain the unique power of what Metcalf has written; better, perhaps, to simply acknowledge that something powerful is happening. Case in point: I seem to have settled on writing whoa in the margins of many pages."
Electric Literature "There isn't much that one can compare [Genoa] to: in both its form and its incorporation of other works, Anne Carson comes to mind, but in broader strokes rather than more specific ones... Genoa is a slippery book, a literary collage that nonetheless advances with a startling momentum."
LitHub "A singular novel, blending history and fiction, Metcalf's book follows two brothers, one of whom narrates, as passages from the journals of Melville and Christopher Columbus are woven into the story. It works! And is best pondered seaside."
Vanity Fair "Fascinating and engaging."
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