Landweber '92 Manipulates Time in Debut Novel

 

The author: An associate editor at the Potomac Review, Landweber also is a contributor on film and TV for Pop Matters. He has worked for The Japan Times, the State Department, and the nonprofit Partnership for a Secure America. Currently, he is a senior adviser at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.

 

The novel: In this debut novel, the narrator — 42-year-old Ben — finds himself thrust back in time after an accident, transported inside the brain of his younger seven-year-old self, in the house where he grew up. Ben realizes that it is three days before his sister’s attack. In order to avert that tragedy, Ben needs to convince “Binky,” his younger self, to listen.

 

Opening lines: “The panic came on quickly, just as it always does. One moment, I am fine. Then it grips me and squeezes. Sometimes my upper arm, sometimes my gut, occasionally icy fingers clutching my throat. Always tight and angry.”

 

Reviews: “Landweber apparently approached this project with a go-big-or-go-home attitude. He aimed high and hit the mark, pulling off a fusion of literary novel and psychological drama,” wrote Tom Young of the Washington Independent Review of Books. The blog Everyday I Write the Book called We “thought-provoking, touching, imaginative, and a promising debut.”