num_pages: 352
description: 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 a "log of lies." 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 a boy so young. With an obsession for the Guinness Book of Records, a keenly inquisitive mind, and a kind of faith, John remains hopeful despite the unfavorable cards life deals him.This is one year in a boy's life. On the cusp of adolescence, from his changing voice and body, through to his parents’ difficult travails and the near collapse of his sanity, John is like a tuning fork sensitive to the vibrations within himself and the trouble that this creates for he and his family.Carry Me Down is a restrained, emotionally taut, and sometimes outrageously funny portrait whose drama drives toward, but narrowly averts, an unthinkable disaster.
language: English
title: Carry Me Down
titlecomplete: Carry Me Down
genres: Ireland, Irish Literature, Coming Of Age, Adult Fiction, Novels, Young Adult, Family, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 3119
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