''Remainder'' is a 2005 novel by British author

Tom McCarthy Thomas McCarthy (also Tom and Tommy) may refer to: Academia *Thomas A. McCarthy (born 1940), American professor of philosophy *Thomas J. McCarthy (born 1956), American professor of polymer chemistry at the University of Massachusetts *J. Thomas Mc ...

. It is McCarthy's third published work. It was first written in 2001, although not published until 2005 (in a limited run of 750 copies printed by the French

Metronome Press ''Metronome'' is an artists' and writers' organ founded in 1996 by Clémentine Deliss. It acts as alternative art publishing, because it has not a fixed editorial team and a fixed location. Its activity started with the publication of a sort of a ...

). The novel was later re-printed by UK publishing house

Alma Books Alma Books is a publishing house based in Richmond, London, founded in 2005 by Alessandro Gallenzi and Elisabetta Minervini, the founders of Hesperus Press. It publishes mainly fiction, both by authors from the English-speaking world and in tra ...

;

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...

printed the book in the United States. The plot revolves around an unnamed narrator who has received a large financial settlement after an accident, and his obsession with recreating half-remembered events from his life before the incident. ''Remainder'' was published to acclaim from critics. McCarthy received the 2007

Believer Book Award Believer Book Award is an American literary award presented yearly by '' The Believer'' magazine to novels and story collections, nonfiction books or essay collections, poetry collections, and, beginning in 2021 (awarding to books published in 2020) ...

for the novel, after its republication.

Plot summary

''Remainder'' tells the story of an unnamed narrator traumatized by an accident which "involved something falling from the sky". Eight and a half million pounds richer due to a compensation settlement but hopelessly estranged from the world around him, the protagonist spends his time and money paying others to reconstruct and re-enact vaguely remembered scenes and situations from his past. These re-enactments are driven by a need to inhabit the world "authentically" rather than in the "second-hand" manner that his traumatic situation has bequeathed him. When the recreation of mundane events fails to quench this thirst for authenticity, he starts re-enacting more and more violent events, including

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

s and a bank heist.

Themes

Like much of McCarthy's work, the novel heavily features repetition and repeated actions. It also deals with amnesia and issues of memory.

Reception

''Remainder'' was generally well received by critics. Writing in the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'', Patrick Ness called it "splendidly odd". ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' noted that "McCarthy’s portrait of the pursuit of total control is arresting", while Peter Carty, in the ''

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

'', said "McCarthy's prose is precise and unpretentious". Novelist and essayist

Zadie Smith Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...

wrote a long appreciation of the novel in her 2009 collection ''Changing My Mind''.

Film adaptation

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

written and directed by Israeli artist

Omer Fast Omer Fast (born in Jerusalem 1972) is an Israeli video artist. Early life and education Born and raised in Israel, Fast spent much of his teenage years in Jericho, New York while his father pursued a medical degree in both countries. He received ...

was released in 2015; it was Fast's first major film.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Zadie Smith on ''Remainder'' in ''The New York Review of Books''
2005 British novels Novels set in London Postmodern novels Believer Book Award-winning books British novels adapted into films