Full name: The Last Illusion: A Novel

Author: Porochista Khakpour Year: 2014 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Fantasy Culture: Iran Purchase/reserch links: Amazon Goodreads Barns&Noble LibraryThing ISBNs: 9781620403044 1620403048

In an Iranian village, Zal's demented mother, horrified by the pallor of his skin and hair, is convinced she has given birth to a "white demon." She hides him in a birdcage for the next decade. Rescued by a behavioral analyst, Zal awakens in New York to the possibility of a future. A stunted and unfit adolescent, he strives to become human as he stumbles toward adulthood. As New York survives one potential disaster, Y2K, and begins hurtling toward another, 9/11, Zal finds himself in a cast of fellow outsiders. A friendship with a famous illusionist who claims--to the Bird Boy's delight--that he can fly and an affair with a disturbed artist who believes she is clairvoyant send Zal's life spiraling into chaos. Like the rest of New York, he is on a collision course with devastation. Similar books: Triburbia by Karl Taro Greenfeld According to Yes by Dawn French Kapitoil by Teddy Wayne In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld In the Drink by Kate Christensen Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee Raising Jake by Charlie Carillo This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Manhattan Loverboy by Arthur Nersesian What Happened to Anna K. by Irina Reyn The Good People of New York by Thisbe Nissen The Blindfold by Siri Hustvedt Little Stalker by Jennifer Belle The Treatment by Daniel Menaker Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman True to the Game by Teri Woods Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson