The Names: A Read with Jenna Pick
A Novel
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4.2 • 113 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY | AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
“Dazzling. . . The Names is startlingly joyful. . . Knapp tirelessly and beautifully replicates not just loss and grief but endless rebirth and delight.” —The Washington Post
“Elegant. . . this is a wholly original work.” —People Magazine "Book of the Week"
“A magnificent novel, thrumming with life in all its pain and precariousness, yet suffused with the glorious possibilities of love and redemption.” —Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Horse
The extraordinary novel that asks: Can a name change the course of a life?
In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she'd like to call the child, Cora hesitates...
Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora's and her young son's lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.
With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family, told through a prism of what-ifs, causing us to consider the "one . . . precious life" we are given. The book’s brilliantly imaginative structure, propulsive storytelling, and emotional, gut-wrenching power are certain to make The Names a modern classic.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Florence Knapp offers three very different glimpses of how a family struggles with abuse in this shocking and poignant story. Cora is married to Gordon, a doctor who’s well-respected in the community but cold, manipulative, and violent behind closed doors. Gordon insists their newborn son should be named after him, but Cora wants to pick a name that doesn’t carry the baggage of his destructiveness and brutality. As she imagines what the boy’s life might look like if he were named Bear, Julian, or Gordon, we get to witness three dramatically different, Sliding Doors–esque scenarios that envision him as an archaeologist, an artisan jewelry maker, and an alcoholic tech bro. Not only are all three narratives enthralling, each one also speaks distinctively to the pain and resilience of this dysfunctional family. Knapp also fills the stories with a rich cast of characters who grabbed us with their own dramatic arcs. The Names is a powerfully moving work about caring and survival.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Knapp's intriguing and nuanced debut comprises three alternate story lines for a British family. After giving birth to a baby boy in 1987, Cora goes to the registry office to record his name. Her abusive husband, Gordon, wants the baby named after himself, her nine-year-old daughter thinks Bear would be a good name, and Cora prefers Julian. In each of the three parallel timelines, Cora assigns the baby a different one of the three names, and the lives of the family members unfold radically differently. In the Bear timeline, Cora and the children are mostly free of Gordon, while in the Julian version, the children are raised by Cora's mother in Ireland. When the boy is named Gordon, the three live under the father's tyrannical rule. Minor characters in one timeline sometimes play major roles in another, as Knapp reveals which attributes are intrinsic to her characters' personalities and which are more subject to outside influences. All three story lines twist and turn in surprising but logical directions, as Knapp provides insights into the ways familial pressure can prevent personal growth. Readers won't be able to stop talking about this intelligent exploration of a single choice's long tail of repercussions.
Customer Reviews
Not like all your previous book club books…
Refreshingly different, creative plot- Florence weaves words together in ways that are funny, interesting and keep you guessing and wondering- “What if…?”
Great idea, but ….
Interesting concept, but the Editor should have kept the Author on track. Gets too muddled and jumbled.
Too hard
This was just too hard to read. I read for entertainment and knowledge building. This was about ongoing domestic abuse with no end in sight, EVER. Just don’t.