Why read Spy of the First Person?

Book cover of Spy of the First Person

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 traces,…

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked Spy of the First Person as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

David W. Berner

Author

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.

From David's 3 favorite reads in 2023.