Book description
The final work from the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, actor, and musician, drawn from his transformative last days
In searing, beautiful prose, Sam Shepard’s extraordinary narrative leaps off the page with its immediacy and power. It tells in a brilliant braid of voices the story of an unnamed narrator who…
Why read it?
1 author picked Spy of the First Person as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I adore this book. It was Shepard's last work, editing it with Patti Smith, his friend, in the last days of his life. It's written as fiction, but it is clearly about Shepard himself and his final days, about the beauty of life and how to face death.
Beautiful prose tells the story of a man who traces his memories as he slowly loses his senses and becomes more and more dependent on the love and help of others.
At the core of this book is the value of family and with the natural world.
If you love Spy of the First Person...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like Spy of the First Person?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Spy of the First Person.
Share your top 3 reads of 2026!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
186
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like Spy of the First Person, you might also like...
Child of Vanris
At five years old, Kasiel was found with the pointed ends of his ears cut off. Despite that brutal start, he’s lived twelve peaceful years with the man who took him in. Keeping his hair long over his mutilated ears helps him hide the fact that he is Vanrian, a…
Almost Home
Almost Home is a fictional retelling of the last great tragedy of the Civil War.
In late April 1865, almost 2,000 newly freed Union prisoners of war are packed onto the steamer Sultana, in poor repair and with a listed capacity of 376 passengers. Among them are four Indiana soldiers…
