Reviews
This beautiful fever dream of a novella put me in mind of Gabriel García Márquez because of its sense of romance--and humor--in the midst of calamity. I'll never look at Central Park the same way., Additional praise for The Reservoir: "David Duchovny's existentialist novella is not to be missed. [ The Reservoir ] is a novel of many well-crafted and complex lines [and] Duchovny's writing is a combination of high and low--and yes, that distinction still exists, if barely. His metaphors and similes are arresting . . . The Reservoir is an important novel for how it captures, not just where we are now, but where we are forever. Disease--like Covid, or like tuberculosis in The Magic Mountain --takes us on a journey outward and at the same time inward." -- City Journal "Bump [ The Reservoir ] to the top of your summer reading list immediately." -- CultureWag "Comically absurd, funny, and very dark." -- New York Journal of Books "David Duchovny writes like Bob Dylan, but in prose. There's irony, poetry, there's social commentary. There's a brooding outrage. And there's romance, too. The complex, multilayered novella, The Reservoir . . . is an easy-to-read, hard-to-forget page-turner." -- The Pavlovic Today "Inspired by Duchovny's self-reflection while sequestered in his own aerie above Central Park at the height of the pandemic, this work is provocative, challenging, and not without its moments of dark humor." -- Library Journal "This swift and unnerving fever-dream of a novella, Duchovny's fifth work of fiction, is saturated with mythic and literary allusions and shaped by resonant riffs on Poe and Mann. At once philosophical and suspenseful, grandly imaginative and sharply funny, this mind-bending story of delusion and longing is a dark reflection of New York's countless crimes and tragedies and much-tested resilience, emblematic of the suffering and tenacity of all of humanity." -- Booklist "This intelligent effort further burnishes Duchovny's status as a gifted novelist." -- Publishers Weekly "This beautiful fever dream of a novella put me in mind of Gabriel García Márquez because of its sense of romance--and humor--in the midst of calamity. I'll never look at Central Park the same way." --Amanda Peet "A heartbreaking story of the cloaked complexities of father-daughter love framed as a sort of virtuoso suicide note. In its depiction of the breakthrough longings that come with growing older, it also struck me, wonderfully, as a contemporary Death in Venice ." --Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out "Biting and funny, The Reservoir is also deep and reflective. A mystery wrapped in a fever dream. A tale for our infectious times." --Chris Carter, director/writer, creator of The X-Files "Equal parts Rear Window and The Plague, David Duchovny's new novella is a wildly imaginative morality tale for these confounding times. With the Central Park Reservoir as his canvas, Duchovny paints a protagonist as quixotic as he is unreliable (or is he?). I had no idea where this story was headed, but I was down for the ride on every page." --T Cooper, author of Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes Praise for previous works by David Duchovny: "[David Duchovny's] most complex novel is also the best of the batch, and makes a solid case for him as a real-deal novelist. It's a provocative, entertaining book that, much like [Tom] Wolfe did, exposes our collective foibles and makes everybody look a little cartoonish. But it persuades you that we deserve the caricature he's made of us." --Washington Post, on Truly Like Lightning, Additional praise for The Reservoir: "David Duchovny''s existentialist novella is not to be missed. [ The Reservoir ] is a novel of many well-crafted and complex lines [and] Duchovny''s writing is a combination of high and low--and yes, that distinction still exists, if barely. His metaphors and similes are arresting . . . The Reservoir is an important novel for how it captures, not just where we are now, but where we are forever. Disease--like Covid, or like tuberculosis in The Magic Mountain --takes us on a journey outward and at the same time inward." -- City Journal "The progeny of our current pandemic is various: illness and death, of course, but also economic dislocation and personal isolation, the concept of ''social distancing'' having quickly morphed from an advisory into a way of life. David Duchovny''s excellent new novella, The Reservoir , is a fever dream born out of this isolation." --PopMatters "Bump [ The Reservoir ] to the top of your summer reading list immediately." -- CultureWag "Comically absurd, funny, and very dark." -- New York Journal of Books "David Duchovny writes like Bob Dylan, but in prose. There''s irony, poetry, there''s social commentary. There''s a brooding outrage. And there''s romance, too. The complex, multilayered novella, The Reservoir . . . is an easy-to-read, hard-to-forget page-turner." -- The Pavlovic Today "Inspired by Duchovny''s self-reflection while sequestered in his own aerie above Central Park at the height of the pandemic, this work is provocative, challenging, and not without its moments of dark humor." -- Library Journal "This swift and unnerving fever-dream of a novella, Duchovny''s fifth work of fiction, is saturated with mythic and literary allusions and shaped by resonant riffs on Poe and Mann. At once philosophical and suspenseful, grandly imaginative and sharply funny, this mind-bending story of delusion and longing is a dark reflection of New York''s countless crimes and tragedies and much-tested resilience, emblematic of the suffering and tenacity of all of humanity." -- Booklist "This intelligent effort further burnishes Duchovny''s status as a gifted novelist." -- Publishers Weekly "This beautiful fever dream of a novella put me in mind of Gabriel García Márquez because of its sense of romance--and humor--in the midst of calamity. I''ll never look at Central Park the same way." --Amanda Peet "A heartbreaking story of the cloaked complexities of father-daughter love framed as a sort of virtuoso suicide note. In its depiction of the breakthrough longings that come with growing older, it also struck me, wonderfully, as a contemporary Death in Venice ." --Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out "Biting and funny, The Reservoir is also deep and reflective. A mystery wrapped in a fever dream. A tale for our infectious times." --Chris Carter, director/writer, creator of The X-Files "Equal parts Rear Window and The Plague, David Duchovny''s new novella is a wildly imaginative morality tale for these confounding times. With the Central Park Reservoir as his canvas, Duchovny paints a protagonist as quixotic as he is unreliable (or is he?). I had no idea where this story was headed, but I was down for the ride on every page." --T Cooper, author of Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes Praise for previous works by David Duchovny: "[David Duchovny''s] most complex novel is also the best of the batch, and makes a solid case for him as a real-deal novelist. It''s a provocative, entertaining book that, much like [Tom] Wolfe did, exposes our collective foibles and makes everybody look a little cartoonish. But it persuades you that we deserve the caricature he''s made of us." --Washington Post, on Truly Like Lightning, Evocative, chilly prose that wouldn't be out of place in a late Don DeLillo novel. Like his previous novels Bucky F*cking Dent and Miss Subways, it's a love letter to Duchovny's native New York. But it's also a smart story about obsession. A slim, compelling tale of a man on the brink., Additional praise for The Reservoir: "Bump [ The Reservoir ] to the top of your summer reading list immediately." -- CultureWag "Comically absurd, funny, and very dark." -- New York Journal of Books "David Duchovny writes like Bob Dylan, but in prose. There's irony, poetry, there's social commentary. There's a brooding outrage. And there's romance, too. The complex, multilayered novella, The Reservoir . . . is an easy-to-read, hard-to-forget page-turner." -- The Pavlovic Today "Inspired by Duchovny's self-reflection while sequestered in his own aerie above Central Park at the height of the pandemic, this work is provocative, challenging, and not without its moments of dark humor." -- Library Journal "This swift and unnerving fever-dream of a novella, Duchovny's fifth work of fiction, is saturated with mythic and literary allusions and shaped by resonant riffs on Poe and Mann. At once philosophical and suspenseful, grandly imaginative and sharply funny, this mind-bending story of delusion and longing is a dark reflection of New York's countless crimes and tragedies and much-tested resilience, emblematic of the suffering and tenacity of all of humanity." -- Booklist "This intelligent effort further burnishes Duchovny's status as a gifted novelist." -- Publishers Weekly "This beautiful fever dream of a novella put me in mind of Gabriel García Márquez because of its sense of romance--and humor--in the midst of calamity. I'll never look at Central Park the same way." --Amanda Peet "A heartbreaking story of the cloaked complexities of father-daughter love framed as a sort of virtuoso suicide note. In its depiction of the breakthrough longings that come with growing older, it also struck me, wonderfully, as a contemporary Death in Venice ." --Walter Kirn, author of Blood Will Out "Biting and funny, The Reservoir is also deep and reflective. A mystery wrapped in a fever dream. A tale for our infectious times." --Chris Carter, director/writer, creator of The X-Files "Equal parts Rear Window and The Plague, David Duchovny's new novella is a wildly imaginative morality tale for these confounding times. With the Central Park Reservoir as his canvas, Duchovny paints a protagonist as quixotic as he is unreliable (or is he?). I had no idea where this story was headed, but I was down for the ride on every page." --T Cooper, author of Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes Praise for previous works by David Duchovny: "[David Duchovny's] most complex novel is also the best of the batch, and makes a solid case for him as a real-deal novelist. It's a provocative, entertaining book that, much like [Tom] Wolfe did, exposes our collective foibles and makes everybody look a little cartoonish. But it persuades you that we deserve the caricature he's made of us." --Washington Post, on Truly Like Lightning
