''A Million Heavens'' is a 2012 novel by John Brandon. The book was first published on 3 July 2012 by

McSweeney's McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to n ...

and is Brandon's third novel, following his 2010 book ''

Citrus County Citrus County is a county located on the west central coast of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 153,843. Its county seat is Inverness, and its largest community is Homosassa Springs. Citrus County compris ...

''.

Synopsis

The novel follows several different characters as they congregate in the parking lot of a clinic where a

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

has fallen into a coma. They each have their own issues, the

foster child Foster care is a system in which a underage, minor has been placed into a ward (law), ward, group home (Residential Child Care Community, residential child care community, Treatment centre, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-ce ...

, the

divorcee Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

, and the gas station owner, and all of whom have decided to gather to hold a vigil for the coma patient.

Reception

Critical reception for ''A Million Heavens'' has been mostly positive and the work has received praise from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'', ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', and the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. ''The Plain Dealer'' commented that the work was dissimilar to Brandon's earlier works, as it was not as dark as ''Citrus County'' or ''Arkansas'' and took more of a leisurely pace in its storytelling. The ''

Oxford American The ''Oxford American'' is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the American South. First publication The magazine was begun in late 1989 in Oxford, Mississippi, by Marc Smirnoff (born July 11, 1963). The name "Oxford American" is a play on ''T ...

'' commented on the book's themes of loss and tragedy, writing "Life doesn’t go back to normal, but life goes on. The most profound part of this novel is that it’s satisfying, even without a tangible or dramatic conclusion for the majority of the characters." ''

Charles Bock Charles Bock (born 1969) is an American writer whose debut 2008 novel '' Beautiful Children'' (published by Random House) was selected by ''The New York Times'' as a Notable Book of the Year for 2008, and won the 2009 Sue Kaufman Prize for Firs ...

'' also reviewed the work, criticizing it for having "Too many sentences

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

tap a bit too deeply into New Mexico’s mystical, new-agey chakra, crossing the line from sincere to earnest (“The wolf wanted to believe that every last hope for peace had not expired in him”), or from earnest to precious (“He was a single note and he only wanted to ring”)" while stating that is ultimately "nothing more — or less — than a sweet ride, smooth traveling for both the mind and heart."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Million Heavens, A 2012 American novels Novels set in New Mexico Novels by John Brandon McSweeney's books