{"product_id":"i-was-there-the-night-he-died-9781927428696","title":"I Was There the Night He Died","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Ray Robertson is an irrepressible voice, with brass balls, and a heart of gold. \u003ci\u003eI Was There the Night He Died\u003c\/i\u003e is a hilarious, moving, insightful, and timely piece of modern realism, delightfully void of literary pretension. Here, at last, is a novel that rocks and rolls.\"--Jonathan Evison, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSo,\" she says. \"Who died tonight?\"\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSam Samson, meet Samantha. Sam's a novelist: his dad has Alzheimer's, his mother died of stroke, his wife was killed seventeen months ago in a car crash. Samantha, eighteen, is a cutter. She lives across the street from Sam's parents' house. Marijuana and loneliness spark an unlikely friendship, which Sam finds hard to navigate, especially as his dad's condition worsens and the money for his care suddenly vanishes. Yet somehow, between a record player and a park bench, through late-night conversations about the deaths of Sam's musical heroes, and ultimately through each other, Sam and Samantha learn to endure the things they fear most. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eStarring a 40-something writer who stumbles through the small town he thought he'd left behind forever, and a marooned teenager who wishes she were anywhere else, \u003ci\u003eI Was There The Night He Died\u003c\/i\u003e is a saucy, swaggering look at loss, love, and the redeeming power of music in the twenty-first century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Ray Robertson, \u003cbr\u003eA Women's National Book Association Great Group Reads Author, 2013\u003cbr\u003eShortlisted for the Hilary Weston Prize, 2011\u003cbr\u003eand the Trillium Prize, 2008\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Ray Robertson is the Jerry Lee Lewis of North American Letters.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Chuck Kinder, author of \u003ci\u003eHoneymooners\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Both playful and profound, laced with insight from music to history, politics to literature, high to low culture.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNational Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Robertson's art is as character-driven as Mordecai Richler's ... he wants us all to behave better and doesn't care who he angers along the way.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Biblioasis\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/10\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781927428696\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 223\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.68h x 5.07w x 0.58d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eQuill \u0026amp; Quire\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2014 pg. 27\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/21\/2014\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ray Robertson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42389476475061,"sku":"9781927428696","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_6a368864-ce1b-43f0-a414-bf9ac81374b1.jpg?v=1663681216","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/i-was-there-the-night-he-died-9781927428696","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}