A warm, funny, and profoundly original novel about a family dealing with disaster, from a rising literary star All it takes is a quarter to change pediatric psychiatrist Dr. Owen Lerner's life. When the coin he's feeding into a parking meter is struck by lightning, Lerner survives, except that now all he wants to do is barbecue. What will happen to his patients, who rely on him to make sense of their world? More important, what will happen to his family?
The bolt of lightning that lifts Lerner into the air sends the entire Lerner clan into free fall. Mary Kay Zuravleff depicts family-on-family pain with generosity and devastating humor as she explores how much we are each allowed to change within a family-and without. Man Alive! captures Owen and Toni Lerner and their nearly grown children so vividly you'll be looking over your shoulder to make sure the author hasn't been watching your own family in action.
"Above all, this is a family novel for smart people; the smarter you are, the better you'll like "Man Alive!" by Washington writer Mary Kay Zuravleff . . . What makes this book so terrific? Certainly the lofty reach of its subject matter and its cleverly delivered information about mythology, robotics, etc. But mostly, it's Zuravleff's masterful use of language, particularly dialogue. Each character cries out to us, demanding attention, recognition. A whole family, not just the burned, bruised Dr. Lerner, demands to be seen as human beings -- alive!"
Carolyn See, The Washington Post
"A lightning bolt to a parking meter certainly packs a punch, but so does every sentence and scene of this exuberant novel. Mary Kay Zuravleff writes so well--with such wit and compassion and wry intelligence--that she can make the daily, domestic life that follows Owen Lerner's encounter with the transcendent as electrifying as the lightning strike itself. A suburban marriage, a young romance, gymnastics, brain chemistry, backyard barbeque, wherever Zuravleff aims her keen eye, something transformative happens, the way a thunderbolt turns sand to glass. Man Alive! is vividly alive and breathing. A sparkling book."
Alice McDermott, National Book Award-winning author of Charming Billy
"Random happens, as Mary Kay Zuravleff ably demonstrates in this witty and engaging novel about a psychiatrist struck by lightning. Man Alive! chronicles the tensions and resentments that pull a family apart in the wake of a freak accident, and the lingering affections and connections that ultimately keep them together."
Tom Perrotta, author of The Leftovers and Little Children
