- Paperback: 353 pages
- Publisher: Eos; Reprint edition (Feb 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060086602
- ISBN-13: 978-0060086602
- Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.5 x 2.5 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,653,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"An ageless story."
--Ursula K. Le Guin ("A Wizard of Earthsea")
"A knock-out . . . wonderful!"
--Karen Joy Fowler ("The Jane Austen Book Club")
"Solitaire is a novel of our time: a story of dashed expectations and corporate manipulations. Eskridge explores what it means to really see ourselves, and what we are ultimately capable of. Jackal, a slight adolescent, matures into an adult capable of living well, no matter what her circumstances. She is a worthy role model for any reader."
--"BookPage"
"Vivid and provocative."
--"The Baltimore Sun"
"As with Eskridge's short fiction, the vividness of the characters is what makes this book so memorable."
--"Locus"
"Psychological insights that would warm the heart of Alice Hoffman."
--"The Seattle Times" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
--Ursula K. Le Guin ("A Wizard of Earthsea")
"A knock-out . . . wonderful!"
--Karen Joy Fowler ("The Jane Austen Book Club")
"Solitaire is a novel of our time: a story of dashed expectations and corporate manipulations. Eskridge explores what it means to really see ourselves, and what we are ultimately capable of. Jackal, a slight adolescent, matures into an adult capable of living well, no matter what her circumstances. She is a worthy role model for any reader."
--"BookPage"
"Vivid and provocative."
--"The Baltimore Sun"
"As with Eskridge's short fiction, the vividness of the characters is what makes this book so memorable."
--"Locus"
"Psychological insights that would warm the heart of Alice Hoffman."
--"The Seattle Times" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
A "New York Times" Notable Book, Borders Original Voices selection, and Nebula, Endeavour, and Spectrum Award finalist.
"Suspenseful and inspiring."--"School Library Journal"
"A stylistic and psychological tour de force."--"The New York Times Book Review"
There are many books we'd love to see back in print and we're very happy to have acquired Kelley Eskridge's debut novel, "Solitaire." Jackal Segura is a Hope: born to responsibility and privilege as a symbol of a fledgling world government. Soon she'll become part of the global administration, sponsored by the huge corporation that houses, feeds, employs, and protects her and everyone she loves. Then, just as she discovers that everything she knows is a lie, she becomes a pariah, a murderer: a person with no community and no future. Grief-stricken and alone, she is put into an experimental program designed to inflict the experience of years of solitary confinement in a few short months: virtual confinement in a sealed cell within her own mind. Afterward, branded and despised, she returns to a world she no longer knows. Struggling to make her way, she has a chance to rediscover her life, her love, and her soul--in a strange place of shattered hopes and new beginnings called Solitaire.
Kelley Eskridge (kelleyeskridge.com) is a novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. Her stories have received the Astraea Award and been adapted for television. A movie based on "Solitaire" is in development. She lives in Seattle with her partner, novelist Nicola Griffith. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
SO SHE WAS, FRAMED IN THE OPEN DOUBLE DOORS like a photograph: Jackal Segura on the worst day of her life, preparing to join the party. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
SO SHE WAS, FRAMED IN THE OPEN DOUBLE DOORS like a photograph: Jackal Segura on the worst day of her life, preparing to join the party. Read the first page
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23 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Privacy or prison?
7 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback
Jackal Segura is an overachieving teenager living and working under the auspices of the massive Ko Corporation. She is destined by her birthdate to become a Hope - a symbolic leader of the new World Government. She has a lover, a circle of friends, and a bright future - until a horrific accident turns her into a mass murderer. She is sentenced to forty years in prison, until an ironic choice is offered her - she can trade her sentence for participation in an experimental treatment based on Ko technology. Jackal will spend eight years locked in solitary Virtual Confinement within her own mind, while ten months of "real time" passes in the outside world.
Despite the overwhelming impact of her time in mental prison, very little space is actually appointed to Jackal's eight year solitude. This is a disappointment, given that the book is not overly long and more time could easily have been spent with Jackal in Solitary without sacrificing any of what comes after. The unique nature of Jackal's confinement - which becomes very different from what her jailors originally intended - is just not explored fully enough, in my opinion.
What does come after, however, is what kept me reading. Jackal is forcibly relocated to a North American slum, where she is supported by Ko hush money since no one will hire her. She finds herself in the company of other notorious mass murderers (most of them female), even engaging in a dangerous flirtation with one. Most importantly, she finds Solitaire - a bar/nightclub designed to cater to "solos" - former VC inmates - and the cult of adoring fans that has sprung up around them. As Jackal tries to hide the exact nature of her time in VC from her probation officer (she fears, justifiably, that she will become a lab rat), she begins to realize just how Solitary changed her forever.
Eskridge takes a good, long look at a complicated future that is neither Utopic nor Dystopic, but a frightening combination of both, where privacy can become prison, strangers can be closer than family, and that which does not kill you does indeed make you stronger.
Despite the overwhelming impact of her time in mental prison, very little space is actually appointed to Jackal's eight year solitude. This is a disappointment, given that the book is not overly long and more time could easily have been spent with Jackal in Solitary without sacrificing any of what comes after. The unique nature of Jackal's confinement - which becomes very different from what her jailors originally intended - is just not explored fully enough, in my opinion.
What does come after, however, is what kept me reading. Jackal is forcibly relocated to a North American slum, where she is supported by Ko hush money since no one will hire her. She finds herself in the company of other notorious mass murderers (most of them female), even engaging in a dangerous flirtation with one. Most importantly, she finds Solitaire - a bar/nightclub designed to cater to "solos" - former VC inmates - and the cult of adoring fans that has sprung up around them. As Jackal tries to hide the exact nature of her time in VC from her probation officer (she fears, justifiably, that she will become a lab rat), she begins to realize just how Solitary changed her forever.
Eskridge takes a good, long look at a complicated future that is neither Utopic nor Dystopic, but a frightening combination of both, where privacy can become prison, strangers can be closer than family, and that which does not kill you does indeed make you stronger.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Excellent First Book
6 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
I have finished reading Kelley Eskridge's Solitaire, and it was one of the best books I have read recently. Actually, I have been on a string of good books, and this one just happens to continue the trend. It features a young heroine, named Ren "Jackal" Segura. In the slightly futuristic world developed by Eskridge, Jackal is what is known as a "Hope". A "Hope" is someone born as the pre-designated time, in this case, the first second of the new year. Each pseudo-national entity has a "Hope" and Jackal is the "Hope" of Ko, the multi-national supercorporation that rules over the island of Hong Kong. Other pseduo-national entities include the NNA, Nations of North America. Sorry, Canada, looks like you got assimilated after all. When Jackal finds out her status as a "Hope" is a lie, she is devastated, but she keeps the secret and maintains the facade. Then, tragedy strikes. In a horrifying accident, 437 persons, including important senators as well as Jackal's best friends are killed and Jackal is blamed for the murders. Charged with 437 counts or murder and international terrorism, Jackal is sentenced to life imprisonment. She cuts a deal though and agrees to partake in an experimental program called Virtual Confinement, VC. Using electrodes hooked to the brain and a drug induced coma-like state, Jackal's mind will believe that she is spending 10 years in solitary confinement with absolutely no human contact, no amenities, and no way out. In reality, she will only be knocked out for eight months. During that time of VC, Jackal must confront her own inner demons, determine how she will survive and not go insane, figure out how to deal with the loved ones in her mind and generally come up with ways to pass the time. When she awakens, she is an entirely different person and must relearn how to negotiate the world and deal with people. But her trials are far from over - once Jackal is getting situated in her new life via a strange bar called "Solitaire" where ex-cons from the VC program go to hang out and test the social waters, her past resurfaces.
All in all, Solitaire is a very engaging book, with a well developed story, memorable characters, and a fast paced plot line, despite the years spent in VC. It does not merit 5 stars because there were some loose ends at the book's conclusion that I would have liked to have seen tied up, but they were fairly minor. Check it out! As this is Eskridge's first novel, I look forward to what else she comes up with.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Something different to think about
21 July 2003
Format:Hardcover
This book is different. But it details life in the near future as if it is ordinary and everyone understands exactly what and how things came to be. There are no retrospective explanations, about the origins of EarthGov, the rise of Ko Corporation, or the Nations of North America. They simply are. Our hero, and she is a hero, has a love relationship with another woman which is presented in a perfectly ordinary tone. The sex of one's partner is not the issue, just their commitment to each other. Solitaire is a book about one person's journey to realize her destiny, and we only see it through her. Ultimately, her personal choices will effect many, many people.
A difficult read, this book is fresh and new and a bit familar at the same time. The use of the VR technology for virtual confinment of long-term prisoners was inventive. The technology described a la Total Recall, is a way to make people experience time in a good or bad environment without going anywhere. It takes three-fourths of the book to get through the crime and punishment experienced by Jackal. The real story is in the aftermath, the coming to terms with life after 6 years being totally alone with absolutely no human contact, no human sounds, no pictures, nothing. I was challenged and haunted by this story. This is not a read for the beach in August. It was intense and absorbing and complete. This one is a keeper to return to again and again.
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