The Instructions

‘Adam Levin’s book is the real thing, I think. It appeals to the young readers who like formal invention and ambition... But there’s also real substance there.’ Dave Eggers This is the story of Gurion Maccabee, age ten: a lover, a fighter, a scholar, and a truly spectacular talker. Gurion has been expelled from three Jewish day-schools for acts of violence and messianic tendencies. He ends up in the Cage, a special lockdown program for the most hopeless cases at Aptakisic Junior High. But in just four days, from the moment he meets the beautiful Eliza June Watermark to the terrifying Events of November 17, Gurion’s search for righteousness sparks a violent, unstoppable rebellion. Driven equally by moral fervour and teenage exuberance, The Instructions is hilarious, troubling, empathetic, monumental, breakneck, romantic and unforgettable. ‘Evocative of David Foster Wallace... full of death-defying sentences, manic wit, exciting provocations and simple human warmth.’ Rolling Stone ‘This is a life-consuming novel, one that demands to be read feverishly. When it is over, other fiction feels insufficient, the newspaper seems irrelevant...’ New York Observer ‘A hysterical, heartfelt journey of self-discovery... A book that moves beyond completely transparent influences to reach its own distinct, new, great height.’ Village Voice ‘Manic, articulate, full of passions, courageous in its form and very funny.’ George Saunders