A breakout new novel from the critically acclaimed novelist and playwright Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned . The sky is falling for the Caspers, a family of cowards: for Jonathan, a paleontologist, searching in vain for a prehistoric giant squid; for his wife, Madeline, an animal behaviorist with a failing experiment; for their daughter, Amelia, a disappointed teenage revolutionary; for her younger sister, Thisbe, on a frustrated search for God; and for grandfather Henry, who wants to disappear, limiting himself to eleven words a day, then ten, then nine… Each fears uncertainty and the possibilities that accompany it. When Jonathan and Madeline suddenly decide to separate, this nuclear family is split, each member forced to confront his or her own cowardice, finally coming to appreciate the cloudiness of the modern age. With wit and humor, The Great Perhaps presents a revealing look at anxiety, ambiguity, and the need for complicated answers to complex questions. 4 drawings *Starred Review* Meno’s distinctively imaginative and compassionate fiction is forged at the intersection of ordinariness and astonishment. In this tragicomic family drama, his fifth novel, he creates a topsy-turvy household. Jonathan and Madeline Casper, timid and insular, are scientists at the University of Chicago. He is devoted to the elusive giant squid and prone to seizures at the sight of a cloud; she is conducting a bizarrely disastrous lab experiment involving pigeons. Amelia, the older of their two teen daughters, is suspended for writing inflammatory editorials in the school paper, while Thisbe has taken to ardent prayer. With anxiety running high over the Iraq War and the 2004 election, Madeline takes off in pursuit of a strange man-shaped cloud; Jonathan hides in a child’s fort of sheet-draped furniture; their valiant, neglected daughters run amok, and Henry, Jonathan’s ailing father, escapes from the nursing home. As Meno masterfully, and meaningfully, conflates the fantastic with the everyday, he reaches back to Henry’s broken childhood and a stint in a World War II internment camp for German Americans. Tender, funny, spooky, and gripping, Meno’s novel encompasses a subtle yet devastating critique of war; sensitively traces the ripple effect of a dark legacy of nebulousness, guilt, and fear; and evokes both heartache and wonder. --Donna Seaman "Tender, funny, spooky, and gripping, Meno's novel encompasses a subtle yet devastating critique of war; sensitively traces the ripple effect of a dark legacy of nebulousness, guilt, and fear; and evokes both heartache and wonder." ― Donna Seaman, Booklist "Laugh-out-loud funny but frequently sad, Joe Meno's new novel runs the gamut of emotions and techniques as it depicts a Chicago family in turmoil....Although he's an unmistakably American author, Meno―a winner of the Chicago Tribune 's Nelson Algren short story award―recalls Anton Chekhov with his amused appreciation of human foibles, his unsentimental affection for people who often behave badly but usually mean well." ― Chicago Tribune "There's an old adage in theater to "make 'em laugh before you make 'em cry." In his previous four novels and two story collections (e.g., Hairstyles of the Damned ), Meno has demonstrated a rare ability to do so not just once but continually over the course of a story, and he manages to do it again....The text contains more elements of magical realism than Meno's previous work, yet even the human-shaped cloud that Madeline chases for weeks somehow seems real thanks to the note-perfect dialog and narrative." ― Library Journal "Meno’s writing seems to have hit a new gear…The overall effect is one of mature mastery of form and a deepened compassion for his characters." ― Kevin Nance, Poets & Writers "An affecting domestic portrait, deftly drawn." ― Taylor Antrim, The Daily Beast "For most of the last decade, a lot of prominent fiction writers interested in establishing their realist bona fides, the relevance of their work to the way we live now, seemed to feel they had no choice but to incorporate 9/11. But Meno dares to consign it, and our response to it, to a larger historical and spiritual context, and even to suggest that there is nothing new under the sun. A few years ago that might have seemed heretical, but traditionally such farsightedness is part of a novelist's job." ― Jonathon Dee, The New York Times Book Review "Joe Meno’s fiction has it all--humor and heart, moral gravitas, and a formal playfulness that catches you pleasantly by surprise." ― Ed Park, author of Personal Days "It's insufferable to be forced to live with a crazy family, especially when you refuse to admit your own share of the madness. Joe Meno delivers tenderness and wit to a family struggling to prop up a house of cards." ― G. Xavier Robillard, author of Captain Freedom "I think The Great Perhaps is the wisest, most humane and transcendent novel on the contemporar