Beep

A Novel
by Bill Roorbach

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An ebullient, funny, and hugely original novel told from the perspective of Beep, a squirrel monkey who—with the help of a brilliant young girl— forges the way forward for a planet in crisis.​

In this immensely enjoyable and wise novel, it takes a sweet and personable squirrel monkey, Beep, to help...
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Published By Algonquin Books

Format Hardback

Number Of Pages 240

Publication Date 07/16/2024

ISBN 9781643755618

Dimensions 6.3 inches x 9.35 inches


"With a lexicon worthy of Anthony Burgess, our small but mighty hero is quick to recognize the perils facing our fragile world. But Beep is a love story most of all, told with the poetry of a pure heart."

"BEEP is a wonder, both monkey and novel, our hero's curious, questing soul, the ebullient brilliance of Roorbach’s prose. Wildly beautiful, funny, moving, entrancing, and hopeful, this is a story for our times, a ray of warm and generous light, a stern warning, a triumph of storytelling."

"BEEP is a work of glorious strangeness, invention, and hope.  In this, Bill Roorbach's most original book yet, his simian hero makes monkeys of us all."

"Hilarious and heartfelt in equal parts, and Beep’s slow uptake of human ways is a revelation. Both the finely tuned rhythm of the humor and the crackpot vocabulary put me in mind of George Saunders—I love the kind of tweaked language that reminds me continuously as I read of the blind trust we put in words to reflect the world as it is, rather than creating it as we would like it to be.”

“How do I love Beep? Let me count the ways. A novel for a new era, with a monkey serving as transmitter of the knowledge our species desperately needs. Full of heart, brilliantly written, with the wild Roorbachian humor and grace we've come to expect. Delight in Beep, Monkey. Hold tight.”
 

“Roorbach masterfully imbues his simian narrator with a voice full of innocence and trepidation… [He] expertly balances the whimsical with the philosophical as Beep describes the world with a sense of wonder… An inspiring quest tale and imaginative bildungsroman that celebrates the natural world.”

— Booklist

“In this good-natured fantasy… well paced and exciting… Roorbach’s vision of a world despoiled by human waste and carelessness is grimly plausible, and his hope for a better future is no doubt shared by all.”

— Kirkus Reviews

"The Weekly Reader has been raving about Bill Roorbach for yearsBeep is a picaresque adventure about climate change, as told by a traveling squirrel monkey. The experience of reading it, which entails inhabiting monkey consciousness to see the world through monkey eyes, described in monkey language, is just about psychedelic... In my opinion, Beep is destined to be a cult classic... there's an action movie style uprising at the Bronx Zoo, a stowaway escape, and then, shockingly, a dark ending. Check it out if you dare.

— WYPR

"The event is a celebration of Bill’s most creative novel yet, Beep, which features the wisdom and insight of Beep, a squirrel monkey who saves the world. In Beep, Roorbach’s signature lyricism and sweeping lighthearted prose shines."

— Left Bank Books

“In Roorbach’s capable hands, Beep’s speech becomes an intelligible and pleasingly simple amalgam of human words… Beep brims with hilarity, kindness, and humor and is a great choice for lovers of tall tales, animals, or both.”

— Washington Independent Review of Books

"Reading this picaresque adventure story is a nearly psychedelic experience, made for those who like to read outside the box."

— Washington Post

 
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