num_pages: 334
description: Carry Me Down is an engrossing story that at its heart examines an adolescent’s difficulties navigating the world. John Egan is a misfit — a twelve-year-old in the body of a grown man with the voice of a giant — who diligently keeps track of the lies large and small that are told to him. John’s been able to detect lies for as long as he can remember; it’s a source of power but also great consternation for someone so young. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of World Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him. John is like a tuning fork, sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for him and his family, and when his sanity reaches near collapse, a frightening family catastrophe threatens to destroy them. Carry Me Down is a restrained, emotionally taut, and sometimes oddly funny portrait whose drama drives toward, but narrowly averts, an unthinkable disaster.
language: English
title: Carry Me Down
titlecomplete: Carry Me Down
genres: Irish Literature, Fiction, Coming Of Age, Ireland, Young Adult, Contemporary, Family, Adult Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels
ratings_count: 3120
awards: awardedAt: 1136102400000
name: Booker Prize, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction  for Longlist, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Hawthornden Prize, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: RSL Encore Award
publisher: Canongate U.S.