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Naked Singularity, a novel by Victoria N. Alexander The Permanent Press, 2003 $24 cloth edition $18 paperback edition
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"A painful tale [about euthanasia]. The emotions are raw at times, but there’s a cool tone of postmodern post-mortem throughout as well, raising hackles and sympathy from first to last."--Kirkus Reviews "Alexander takes on a gut-wrenching topic in this ambitious second novel... [she] writes eloquently about the family's daily emotional pain... [and] the lurid, macabre ending [is] a climax that seems barely believable." --Publishers Weekly "Woven into Naked Singularity's metaphors and narrative is a profound understanding of current ideas on chaos and complexity. It renders esoteric constructs concrete, and in a setting none of us can escape..." --James P. Crutchfield, Santa Fe Institute
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"Time is working without reason; tritium emits a particle; a universe begins; or water freezes. The as-if-it-were haunts empty space. There is a hesitation, then the door is shut, the die is cast, the story writ. I once thought God governed these thresholds, and I kept the way cluttered with relics. Now the way is windswept, and reality comes and goes just as well without a keeper. History is the great creative force. Things are as they are because they were as they were, more or less. And who knows what will be?"
"If free will shows itself in the effort to change what is inevitably underway, then you are free, Dad. Enjoy your humanity. But there are some who would rather invoke Fate than be doomed to ruminate on what might have been. Easier to attribute death to a mysterious purpose than to think it might have been avoided." --Victoria N. Alexander from Naked Singularity. Synopsis When Hali's father asks her to help him commit suicide in order to spare the family the misery of a long illness, she reluctantly agrees. Hali's family insists on letting "God's will" decide. As a student of science, Hali cannot agree. But she explores the complex concepts of predetermination, the soul, and an afterlife in a manner that is both challenging and deeply moving. Although Hali doesn't believe in a god, she finds it difficult to do what she thinks is best for her father and family. She is forced to accept the help of a hospice nurse, adding further complications and a slow and painful end. ask for Naked Singularity at your local bookstore |
Victoria N. Alexander lives in New York City and is co-founder of the