3 Stories for God

three writers tell stories about God.

7:30 pm

Thursday, February 16th

at The Ossington (61 Ossington Ave. just North of Queen, downtown Toronto).

Free and open to all.

Featuring:

About Ben Ehrenreich’s ETHER:

A bearded man in a badly soiled suit known only as The Stranger wanders into an apocalyptic landscape on the fringes of a dying metropolis, looking for a way to “get back on top.” Thwarted and rejected at every turn by old friends and strangers alike–even by the author of this novel, whom he visits repeatedly in unsuccessful attempts to determine his own narrative–his impotence and rage are expressed in acts of seemingly senseless violence. The various characters he encounters on his journey–a pack of sadistic boys, skinheads who beat him senseless, a deaf-mute woman who tries to heal him, a sidewalk preacher and a deranged man who identify him as The One–avoid him or abuse him, or attempt to follow him. Entertaining, disturbing and wildly intelligent, written with sinister humor and great compassion, Ether reflects on the possibilities and consequences of forgiveness, the problems of faith and the trials of creation.

“A book that’s both pure as snow and filthy as dirt, with the lovely detachment of ice. Like Beckett, Ehrenreich has the talent of being particular and general at once, and thus steps outside time.”

–Lydia Millet, Pulitzer Prize finalist for Love in Infant Monkeys