Alistair McCartney's guest appearances

Alistair McCartney

Skylight Books Podcast Series

Chris Ryan

Sean Fennessey

Jason Concepcion

Shea Serrano

Mallory Rubin

Chuck Klosterman

Benjamin Franklin

Jon Hamm

Kate Schatz

Miriam Klein Stahl

Michelle Tea

Matt Bell

Sarah Ruhl

Amy Stewart

Joanna Angel

OwlTail

“I know nothing about death, absolutely nothing,” asserts the narrator of Alistair McCartney's inventive autobiographical novel. Yet he can’t stop thinking about it. Detached from life in Los Angeles and his past in Australia, uncomfortable around other humans, he researches death on the Internet; mulls over distant and intimate stories of suicides, serial killers, and “natural deaths”; and wanders about LA’s Holy Cross Cemetery. He’s looking for answers, all the while formulating his own disquieting philosophies. Within this dizzying investigation into the mystery of death is another mystery: who is the companion igniting these memories? This enigmatic novel blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction, story and eulogy, poetry and obituary. Wry yet somber, astringent yet tender, The Disintegrations confronts both the impossibility of understanding death and the timeless longing for immortality. Mr. McCartney is joined by David Francis, author of Agapanthus Tango, Stray Dog Winter, and Wedding Bush Road.

“I know nothing about death, absolutely nothing,” asserts the narrator of Alistair McCartney's inventive autobiographical novel. Yet he can’t stop thinking about it. Detached from life in Los Angeles and his past in Australia, uncomfortable around other humans, he researches death on the Internet; mulls over distant and intimate stories of suicides, serial killers, and “natural deaths”; and wanders about LA’s Holy Cross Cemetery. He’s looking for answers, all the while formulating his own disquieting philosophies. Within this dizzying investigation into the mystery of death is another mystery: who is the companion igniting these memories? This enigmatic novel blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction, story and eulogy, poetry and obituary. Wry yet somber, astringent yet tender, The Disintegrations confronts both the impossibility of understanding death and the timeless longing for immortality. Mr. McCartney is joined by David Francis, author of Agapanthus Tango, Stray Dog Winter, and Wedding Bush Road.

Alistair McCartney, "THE DISINTEGRATIONS"