"Orion, You Came and You Took All Our Marbles," a quirky novel by Kira Henehan, published by Milkweed Editions of Minneapolis, has been named to the Believer Book Award short-list.
The award, given by the editors of Believer Magazine, picks five novels the editors found to be both excellent and under-appreciated. Along with "Orion," which was winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, are "Skippy Dies," by Paul Murray;"Next," by James Hynes; "The Orange Eats Creeps," by Grace Krilanovich; and "Sprawl," by Danielle Dutton.
Of Henehan's book, the Believer editors said, "Kira Henehan's debut has tableaux out of Raymond Roussel, language like a scatterbrained Beckett, and a beautiful disaster of a detective narrator in Finley. As our guide through this unpredictable world of kitten-eating snakes, puppet phobias, and elaborate meat trays, Finley trots out wild-eyed theories and commits one faux pas after another. Her endearing knack of not quite describing something effectively, and then commenting on said knack or anti-knack, shouldn't make you laugh every damn time, but it does."
The Star Tribune review, which ran in May, is here. The winner will be announced in April.
