A brilliant dark comedy about life, death and growing old in America told with Segaland#39;s characteristic humor, crystalline style and deadpan deliveryandamp;mdash;and her hilarious sense of the absurd.Half the Kingdom is a brilliant dark comedy about life, death and growing old in post-9/11 Americaandamp;mdash;a place where terrorist paranoia and end-of-the-world hysteria masks deeper fears about mortality; a place where the broken medical system leads one character to quip, andquot;Kafka wrote slice-of-life fiction.andquot;Characters from Segaland#39;s earlier novels are part of the cast whose lives intersect at Manhattanand#39;s Cedars of Lebanon emergency roomandamp;mdash;where doctors have noticed a marked up-tick in Alzheimer victims. People who seemed perfectly lucid just a day earlier exhibit signs of advanced dementia. Is it just normal aging or a coincidence? Is it an epidemic, or a secret terrorist plot?As profoundly moving as Joan Didionand#39;s latest non-fiction, and as thoughtful and charming as Diana Athill, Segaland#39;s crystalline writing and deep appreciation of the absurd make this most tragic and hilarious novel a joy for all to read.
