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Through the critically acclaimed writer of Sons and Other Flammable Things comes a striking fabulist novel about a feral boy arriving of age in New York, based on a story from the middle ages Persian epic The Shahnameh, the E book of Kings.Inside a rural Iranian community, Zal's demented mom, horrified by the pallor of his pores and skin and locks, becomes convinced she's given labor and birth to a "White Demon." She hides him in a birdcage and there he lives for another decade. Unfamiliar with human society, Zal eats birdseed and insects, squats atop the magazine he sleeps upon, and communicates only in the squawks and shrieks of the other family pet parrots around him.Free of his cage and implemented by the behavioral analyst, Zal awakens in New York to the opportunity of another. An emotionally stunted and literally unfit adolescent, he strives to become human as he stumbles toward adulthood, but his continual dreams in "bird" and his hidden knowledge penchant for candied insects make real conformity impossible. As New York survives one potential catastrophe, Y2K, and begins hurtling toward another, 9/11, Zal confirms himself in a cast of fellow outsiders. A camaraderie with a famous illusionist who promises - to the Bird Boy's delight - that he can fly and a romantic romantic relationship with a disturbed musician who believes she actually is clairvoyant send Zal's life spiraling into chaos. Just like the rest of New York, he is on the collision course with devastation.In tones haunting yet funny and unflinching yet reverential, The Previous Illusion explores the powers of storytelling while looking into contemporary and classical wonderful thinking. Its potent lyricism, stylistic inventiveness, and examination of otherness can charm to readers of Salman Rushdie and Helen Oyeyemi. A celebrated essayist and chronicler of the 9/11-time, Khakpour reimagines New York's most harrowing catastrophe with a amazing homage to her loved city.
