Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Guardian
“Circular Motion comes from a writer capable of two things often misconstrued as counter to each other: deep, rich characters and elaborate, challenging ideas. The people give credence to the imaginative story, and the story creates stakes for the people. . . . A lofty, idea-driven, futuristic meditation on technology, rest assured that what ultimately recommends Foster’s novel are its most terrestrial elements — the characters. . . . Foster has a knack for delicately balancing the emotional stakes for these deeply drawn characters with the dispensing, at a breakneck pace, of a great deal of information, exposition and global developments. . . . All developments are skillfully constructed, evolve organically from where they start and grow more interesting than those starting points. . . . Foster doesn’t rest on his fun and original ideas; he nurtures them, cultivates them with thoughtful challenges and unexpected turns, until out of them emerge new ideas, complicated and earned. . . . A debut both wildly imaginative and deeply emotional.”
—The Washington Post
“Stunningly impressive . . . Maybe my top read of the year so far: disturbing, clever, beautifully written and, like all the best dystopias, it makes me even more grateful for the world I live in now, spinning at a sensible rate.”
—New Scientist, named a New Scientist Book Club pick
“Impressive . . . The work of a writer with real talent. The prose is lively, too: vivid, full of lovely touches, and equally able to describe the large-scale disasters, thunderstorms, earthquakes, end-of-days big-screen doom, and the minutiae of ordinary living.”
—The Guardian
“Canny and observational and damn funny. A satire with big, sharp fangs that is also a chronicle of desperate loneliness . . . Bigger than life and still representative of the wonderful, torturous, transcendent granularity of living . . . During these cataclysmic times, it’s a marvel to read a truly brilliant first novel.”
—Electric Literature “Recommended Reading”
“Circular Motion is a gift: every paragraph offers something to make you think, laugh, feel, or simply look up from the page and sigh in awe or recognition.”
—Jonathan Safran Foer, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and Here I Am
“Foster is a writer of imaginative daring and narrative dexterity.”
—Jeffrey Eugenides, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides
“I’m a sucker for doomsday novels, but Circular Motion sucker-punched me right in the heart. Brilliantly written and utterly absorbing. Who needs gravity when Alex Foster keeps you absolutely grounded in his prose.”
—Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story
“A fable for our times, with a moral about corporate responsibility and the need for concerted political action to address what are clear and present, not to mention hastening, threats. In his first novel Foster . . . shows impressive skill at world building and unbuilding in this well-paced adventure.”
—Toronto Star
“A deep investigation of how time is valued in contemporary society, while also being a deftly plotted page-turner. I read it in just a couple of sittings; time flew.”
—Vauhini Vara, Pulitzer Prize-finalist, author of The Immortal King Rao
“Disquieting . . . Foster keeps the novel balanced on a knife’s edge between satire and realism.”
—Locus Magazine
“A beautiful exploration of human connection in a crumbling world.”
—Engadget
“Equal parts ambitious and intimate, with enough humanity and empathy to keep weighty themes from swallowing it whole. . . . When the Earth starts spinning faster, three people from a small Alaska town find their lives intertwined . . . with Foster artfully weaving their stories together. . . . Foster's debut novel has grand ambitions, which are made intimate through a close examination of the characters at its core.”
—Kirkus
“Through nuanced characters and sharp observation, Foster’s debut creates a vision of our future that feels wildly inventive, yet terrifyingly within reach.”
—Booklist
“Exciting . . . Foster shines in his condemnation of corporations and their eagerness to deflect attention away from their role in the climate crisis. Fans of gleeful and unflinching satire will find plenty to love.”
—Publishers Weekly
Alex Foster 