Major Arcana

Review

“A deliriously creative tour-de-force… a breathtakingly imaginative and enjoyable novel." ― Booklist, starred review“A rich and enriching novel” ― Kirkus Reviews"His interest lies in the daring and ambition of myth-making. “Major Arcana” has the characteristics of a superhero―or, rather, antihero―epic.... it’s grandiose and declamatory"―The Wall Street Journal“...a kaleidoscopic plot that spans three decades and tangles, along the way, with tarot, comic books, perception-altering drugs, academia, and the cultural politics of gender.”―The New Yorker"In its mixture of literary ambition and old-fashioned showmanship, John Pistelli’s latest novel is a throwback to the efflorescence of popular literary fiction in the mid-late 20th century." ―Rain Taxi Review of Books"Blending a freewheeling, deeply moving narrative with intellectual and artistic debates, Major Arcana follows graphic novelists, dreamers, and lovers of big ideas through chaotic but deeply felt lives. John Pistelli is an author with a crystal-clear vision of what he wants to achieve―and, even more impressively, he succeeds. He aims high, inviting readers to follow him into a bold, exhilarating, and intellectually stimulating story."―Chicago Review of Books"Pistelli knows how to write about modern culture. This is not a twentieth century novel trying to make itself relevant in a world it is not merely uncomfortable in but cannot comprehend...but instead reads like a novel written now...Major Arcana successfully writes about an internet culture, which has to be fluid between the on- and off-line."―Herry Oliver, The Common Reader“A bravura, hallucinatory tarot of art, madness, and the fatal poignance of being alive.” --Bruce Wagner “Perhaps the elusive great American novel for the twenty-first century.” ―Ross Barkan "A novel that, in a single beat, delights and exasperates...If I was fighting back tears by the end of Major Arcana, it’s because Pistelli, a sentimentalist at heart, had earned those moments."― Locus"This novel is a relatively modest 350 pages long, but it seems much bigger than that. In a good way. It’s a throwback to some extent, with a tentacular plot that defies easy description and even grander ambitions―think Chabon, Danielewski, DeLillo―that aren’t fashionable these days. It’s also forward-thinking, concerned with issues that are very much in current vogue, and having first been made public via Substack installments. Even though its author is an academic with an established literary career, Major Arcana feels like a piece of outsider art, the first cult hit of the 21st century." ― Leviathan Bookstore

Booklist

“A deliriously creative tour-de-force… a breathtakingly imaginative and enjoyable novel." ― Booklist, starred review