House of Anansi Press
Alligator
Written by Lisa Moore
Published September 13, 2005 |
ISBN 9780887848445
FICTION / Urban
About this book
Alligator
Lisa Moore
From the author of the award-winning The Sisters Brothers comes a dark, boozy, and hilarious tale from the LA underworld.
A nameless barman tends a decaying bar in Hollywood and takes notes for a book about his clientele. Initially, he is morbidly amused by watching the regulars roll in and fall into their nightly oblivion, pitying them and their loneliness. In hopes of uncovering their secrets and motives, he establishes tentative friendships with them. He also knocks back pills indiscriminately and treats himself to gallons of Jameson's. But as his tenure at the bar continues, he begins to lose himself, trapped by addiction and indecision. When his wife leaves him, he embarks on a series of squalidly random sexual encounters and a downward spiral of self-damage and irrational violence. To cleanse himself and save his soul, he attempts to escape . . .
About the Author
Lisa Moore
Lisa Moore is the acclaimed author of the novels Caught, February, and Alligator. Caught was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize and is now a major CBC television series starring Allan Hawco. February won CBC’s Canada Reads competition, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and was named a New Yorker Best Book of the Year and a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book. Alligator was a finalist for the Scotia Bank Giller Prize, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Canada and the Caribbean region), and was a national bestseller. Her story collection Open was a finalist for the Scotia Bank Giller Prize and a national bestseller. Her most recent work is a collection of short stories called Something for Everyone. Lisa lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Awards and Praise
- Winner ReLit Awards - Novel, 2006
- Long-listed Orange Broadband Award, 2007
- Short-listed Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, 2006
- Short-listed Commonwealth Writers' Prize - Best Book, 2006
- Long-listed IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, 2006
- Short-listed Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2005
- Short-listed Bennington Gate Fiction Award, 2005