Better to have gone: love, death, and the quest for utopia in Auroville
Author:
Publisher:
Scribner
Publication Date:
2021
Edition:
First Scribner hardcover edition
Language:
English
Description
"A spellbinding story about love, faith, the search for utopia -- and the often devastating cost of idealism. It's the late 1960s, and two lovers converge on an arid patch of earth in South India. John Walker is the handsome scion of a powerful East Coast American family. Diane Maes is a beautiful hippie from Belgium. They have come to build a new world -- Auroville, an international utopian community for thousands of people. Their faith is strong, the future bright. So how do John and Diane end up dying two decades later, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon? This is the mystery Akash Kapur sets out to solve in Better to Have Gone, and it carries deep personal resonance: Diane and John were the parents of Akash's wife, Auralice. Akash and Auralice grew up in Auroville; like the rest of their community, they never really understood those deaths. In 2004, Akash and Auralice return to Auroville from New York, where they have been living with John's family. As they reestablish themselves, along with their two sons, in the community, they must confront the ghosts of those distant deaths. Slowly, they come to understand how the tragic individual fates of John and Diane intersected with the collective history of their town. Better to Have Gone is a book about the human cost of our age-old quest for a more perfect world. It probes the underexplored yet universal idea of utopia, and it portrays in vivid detail the daily life of one utopian community. Richly atmospheric and filled with remarkable characters, spread across time and continents, this is narrative writing of the highest order -- a heartbreaking, unforgettable story." --
More Details
ISBN:
9781501132513
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Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 658364e6-eb61-72cd-459d-f66e8333d728 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | better to have gone love death and the quest for utopia in auroville |
Grouping Author | akash kapur |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-06-25 16:21:00PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-07-03 22:49:52PM |
Solr Fields
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0
accelerated_reader_reading_level
0
author
Kapur, Akash
author_display
Kapur, Akash
available_at_hm
Hamden Public Libraries
detailed_location_hm
Hamden/Miller Adult Nonfiction 3rd Floor
display_description
"A spellbinding story about love, faith, the search for utopia -- and the often devastating cost of idealism. It's the late 1960s, and two lovers converge on an arid patch of earth in South India. John Walker is the handsome scion of a powerful East Coast American family. Diane Maes is a beautiful hippie from Belgium. They have come to build a new world -- Auroville, an international utopian community for thousands of people. Their faith is strong, the future bright. So how do John and Diane end up dying two decades later, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon? This is the mystery Akash Kapur sets out to solve in Better to Have Gone, and it carries deep personal resonance: Diane and John were the parents of Akash's wife, Auralice. Akash and Auralice grew up in Auroville; like the rest of their community, they never really understood those deaths. In 2004, Akash and Auralice return to Auroville from New York, where they have been living with John's family. As they reestablish themselves, along with their two sons, in the community, they must confront the ghosts of those distant deaths. Slowly, they come to understand how the tragic individual fates of John and Diane intersected with the collective history of their town. Better to Have Gone is a book about the human cost of our age-old quest for a more perfect world. It probes the underexplored yet universal idea of utopia, and it portrays in vivid detail the daily life of one utopian community. Richly atmospheric and filled with remarkable characters, spread across time and continents, this is narrative writing of the highest order -- a heartbreaking, unforgettable story." --
format_category_hm
Books
format_hm
Book
id
658364e6-eb61-72cd-459d-f66e8333d728
isbn
9781501132513
itype_hm
ADULT BOOK
last_indexed
2024-07-04T04:49:52.562Z
lexile_score
-1
literary_form
Non Fiction
literary_form_full
Non Fiction
local_callnumber_hm
954.8209/KAP
owning_library_hm
Hamden Public Libraries
owning_location_hm
Hamden Public Libraries
primary_isbn
9781501132513
publishDate
2021
publisher
Scribner
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Auroville (India) -- History
Maes, Diane
Utopias -- India
Walker, John
Maes, Diane
Utopias -- India
Walker, John
title_display
Better to have gone : love, death, and the quest for utopia in Auroville
title_full
Better to have gone : love, death, and the quest for utopia in Auroville / Akash Kapur
title_short
Better to have gone
title_sub
love, death, and the quest for utopia in Auroville
topic_facet
History
Maes, Diane
Utopias
Walker, John
Maes, Diane
Utopias
Walker, John
Solr Details Tables
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ils:.b26762894 | .i65801544 | Woodbridge Adult NF 900-999 | 954.82/KAP | 1 | false | false | Due Oct 31, 2024 | wdan9 | |||||
ils:.b26762894 | .i65579616 | Norwich/Otis Adult Nonfiction | 954.82 KAP | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | nwan | |||||
ils:.b26762894 | .i65686093 | Hamden/Miller Adult Nonfiction 3rd Floor | 954.8209/KAP | 1 | false | false | On Shelf | hmanb |
record_details
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---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b26762894 | Book | Books | First Scribner hardcover edition | English | Scribner | 2021 | xiv, 344 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm |
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ils:.b26762894 | .i65873282 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b26762894 | .i65801544 | Checked Out | Checked Out | false | false | true | false | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b26762894 | .i65579616 | On Shelf | On Shelf | false | true | true | false | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b26762894 | .i65686093 | On Shelf | On Shelf | true | true | true | false | false | true | 9999 |