The Book of I by Liselott Johnsson

The Book of I by Liselott Johnsson

In this powerful novel, Jorge Armenteros takes us deep, deep and deeper still into the mind of a painter who has come to the edge of his cliff. The Book of I's fierce, fresh language buoys us through the many-textured darkness, shoots the whole through with crucial light. Cortazar is an apt analog here. So is Artaud.

- Laird Hunt, author of Neverhome and Kind One, 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award finalist and winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

In a French village, painter Teaston has witnessed a woman's fatal jump off a nearby cliff. Growing lost in the 'whiteness' of his schizophrenia, he paints out the faces on his canvases, searching for the 'holes where eyes could fall in.' Dipped in the ink of South American surrealists like Julio Cortazar, Jorge Armenteros's The Book of I slowly and achingly unveils Teaston's tormented inner life. For Teaston, 'the existence of normalcy is a primordial question.' This stark, poetic and haunted novel makes it ours as well.

- Susanne Paola Antonetta author of A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World

A startling vision of the world from the perspective of a schizophrenic painter, a man balanced on the edge of his self and his life, and on the way to a crisis. This is a finely crafted and clearheaded book, at once sympathetic and unwilling to give any alibis, and well worth the read.

-Brian Evenson, author of Immobility, Last Days, and The Open Curtain

In this lyrical and assured debut novel, Jorge Armenteros navigates us through the labyrinthian struggles of the mind of a schizophrenic painter wading through the edges of reality and fantasy. Part existential puzzle and part hypnotic meditation, THE BOOK OF I is as much about the language we have-or yearn to have- to hold our identities as it is about the search for the core of our innermost selves. This is a haunting debut by a bold new talent.

-Laurie Foos author of Ex Utero and Before Elvis There Was Nothing

How our minds evolve and determine our identities and how these identities can shift over time remains a fascinating topic for the novelist. When a mental illness interferes with the normal brain function that we all take for granted, the challenges to the individual and those around him multiply exponentially. His training and experience as a psychiatrist gives Jorge Armenteros a special perspective on the mysteries of the human mind and his character Teaston reminds us that somewhere between reality and delusion lies the unconquerable world of uncertainty. A terrific achievement for a first novel.

- John Kane, MD, Vice President for Behavioral Health Services of the North Shore - Long Island Jewish Health System and Chairman of Psychiatry at The Zucker Hillside Hospital