We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler
February 3, 2015
Bloomsbury USA
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*ARC courtesy of Lauren Cerand
Mega-bestselling author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) gives us his long-awaited and most ambitious novel yet: a dark, rollicking, stunningly entertaining human comedy.
A boat has gone missing. Goods have been stolen. There is blood in the water. It is the twenty-first century and a crew of pirates is terrorizing the San Francisco Bay.
Phil is a husband, a father, a struggling radio producer, and the owner of a large condo with a view of the water. But he’d like to be a rebel and a fortune hunter.
Gwen is his daughter. She’s fourteen. She’s a student, a swimmer, and a best friend. But she’d like to be an adventurer and an outlaw.
Phil teams up with his young, attractive assistant. They head for the open road, attending a conference to seal a deal.
Gwen teams up with a new, fierce friend and some restless souls. They head for the open sea, stealing a boat to hunt for treasure.
We Are Pirates is a novel about our desperate searches for happiness and freedom, about our wild journeys beyond the boundaries of our ordinary lives.
Also, it’s about a teenage girl who pulls together a ragtag crew to commit mayhem in the San Francisco Bay, while her hapless father tries to get her home.
First Sentence: [quote]I met Phil Needle on Independence Day, two hundred something-something years since America had freed itself from British rule and just a few days after the pirates had returned from the high seas, at a barbecue commemorating that troubled time.[/quote]
Who’s up for an adventure on the open seas? You? Well, bad news, We Are Pirates is not that kind of book. However, if you’re looking for an extremely dark, yet somewhat humorous story about desperate people trying to escape their reality by turning to piracy whilst calling it an adventure, you’re in luck!
We Are Pirate follows a father, Phil Needle, and his daughter, Gwen, as they both embark on a journey for meaning in their lives. For Phil, who’s a radio producer and a clueless dad, he wants to create a meaningful radio program that will embody the American outlaw spirit and inspire audiences. For Gwen, a fourteen year, she’s extremely unhappy with her family, her love life, and, in general, her life, and yearns for more meaning and freedom, which is why she puts together a crew of similarly restless souls to create mayhem in the San Francisco Bay.
It explores what happens to restless souls when they try to find meaning and freedom in their lives by stepping out of their reality. Prepare to join the adventure!
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