Esteemed Brooklyn literary critic releases debut novel
Brooklyn BookBeat: ‘Necessary Errors’ follows an American in Prague
Caleb Crain, an esteemed literary critic who frequently contributes to The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books, and The New York Times Book Review, among other publications, has now turned to fiction. Crain’s debut novel “Necessary Errors” (Penguin Group; Aug. 6, 2013) has earned high praise from writers and critics, and the Brooklyn-based author will appear at BookCourt in Cobble Hill to launch his novel on Aug. 7.
“Necessary Errors” opens in October of 1990 in newly democratic Czechoslovakia. Jacob Putnam, Crain’s protagonist, is a young American who has arrived in Prague just a year too late to experience the Velvet Revolution. Still, he immerses himself in the country’s quickly changing political scene. Excited by the beauty and sense of opportunity in his adopted city, Jacob becomes involved with a group of expatriates. As these men and women become romantically involved with one another, Jacob’s first impressions of his new friends are challenged.
A coming-of-age story set against a unique and foreign backdrop, “Necessary Errors” is a poignant work of fiction grounded in history.