In conversation with Will Evans, President and co-founder of Cinestate
Adam Haslett’s novel Imagine Me Gone explores the depths to which people will go to help those they love most. A riveting story that examines the impact of mental illness on a family, this dark yet frequently hilarious novel is a 2016 Kirkus Prize finalist and National Book Award Longlist selection. Haslett’s intricately rendered characters bring alive the love of a mother for her children, the devotion siblings feel toward one another, and how a father’s pain affects the family.
When Margaret’s fiancé, John, is hospitalized for depression in 1960s London, she decides to marry him despite what she knows of his condition. Imagine Me Gone is the unforgettable story of what unfolds following her decision. Like John, their eldest son, Michael, a brilliant music fanatic, struggles with anxiety and depression. Over decades, his mother and siblings attempt to care for Michael’s increasingly fragile condition. While the family is tormented by father-and-son battles with chronic depression, Haslett delicately examines what constitutes a good, meaningful life.
Haslett is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Yale Law School, and recipient of the Berlin Prize. His short story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here was a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist.
“Dark and winning humour, poignant tenderness, and sentences so astute that they lift the spirit. But make no mistake, the novel’s most rewarding surprise is its heart.” —New York Times Book Review