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Jonathan Lee (novelist)

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For other people named Jonathan Lee, see Jonathan Lee (disambiguation).
Jonathan Lee
File:Germany photo.jpg
Jonathan Lee (image courtesy Random House / Wikipedia Commons, credit Tanja Kernweiss)
Born (1981-04-24) 24 April 1981 (age 43)
Surrey, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationWriter
Years active2010 -- present
Notable workWho Is Mr Satoshi? (2010), Joy (2012), High Dive (2015)
AwardsSociety of Authors K. Blundell Trust Award (2013);

Desmond Elliott Prize (Shortlisted) (2012); Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection (2015); Encore Award (Shortlisted) (2013); MJA Open Book Award (shortlisted) (2013);

Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award (Longlisted) (2014)

Jonathan Lee (born 24 April 1981) is a British writer best known as the author of the novels Who Is Mr Satoshi?,[1] Joy,[2] and High Dive.[3] The Guardian has described Lee as "a major new voice in British fiction."[4]

On publication Who Is Mr Satoshi was reviewed by the British press. The Observer called it 'elegant and incisive',[5] The Independent said it was a 'masterful first novel',[6] The Daily Telegraph called it a 'funny, insightful and beautiful' and the Daily Mail described the novel as 'dream-like ... an unusual, playful and clever book.[7] The novel was also praised by several well-known literary fiction writers, including Giles Foden, author of The Last King Of Scotland, who called it 'funny and moving'.[8]

Who Is Mr Satoshi was a runner up in the Edinburgh Festival's First Book Award 2010[9] and led to Jonathan Lee being shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize for literature 2011.[10]

The author's agents, Aitken Alexander Associates Ltd, state on their website that Jonathan Lee was born in Surrey in 1981, graduated from the University of Bristol with a First in English Literature and was working as a solicitor when he wrote his debut novel.[11]

Lee's second novel, Joy, was released in June 2012. It was widely reviewed, with the Observer declaring that it is 'exquisitely and surprisingly written ... it proves that Lee is a significant talent',[12] the Literary Review saying it is 'an enormously impressive piece of storytelling' and Henry Sutton writing in The Mirror that ‘Lee’s the real deal – a British writer on the cusp of greatness ... A brilliant & powerful dissection of modern Britain’ . Booker Prize shortlisted author A.D. Miller said that ‘with its supple prose, ingenious structure, wit & slow-burn sympathy, Joy is a sly miracle of a novel’.[13] However, some reviewers such as the reviewer on the Book Oxygen blog were far more critical, arguing that the book is unnecessarily 'complex and demanding' and can at times 'feel like a product'.[14] An article in The Guardian alleged that Joy was inspired by the death of an ex-colleague of Lee's in 2007, while Lee was working as a lawyer at the same law company.[15]

After the publication of Joy, Lee won a Society of Authors K Blundell Trust Award[16] and was long listed for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award.[17]

High Dive, Lee's third novel, was published in the UK in 2015 and re-imagined events surrounding the Brighton hotel bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1984, an attempt to assassinate then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher[18] The Sunday Times called it "an extraordinary performance: vividly written, painfully human and fully fleshing the inner lives of its characters".[18] The Guardian, after publishing a review by Jake Arnott,[19] named it among their "books of the year" and stated that it was "a multi-voiced epic that leads towards a stunning finale."[20] The Independent, in its review, called Lee "a wordsmith of incomparable eloquence" and also chose it as one of their books of the year.[21] Not all critics were as positive. A negative review of the novel was published in the Financial Times, which argued that "the novel suffers from some bum notes ... the thoughts of the characters meander in ways that aren’t always interesting or revealing."[22] In an interview with Mariella Frostrup for the BBC, Lee defended his decision to tell the story of the real-life bombing through largely fictional characters.[23]

For the release of High Dive in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf in 2016, the book was chosen by Barnes & Noble for their "Discover Great New Writers" program[24] and was selected as a New York Times Editors' Choice.[25] The book was widely reviewed. Jennifer Senior reviewed it for The New York Times[26] and Thomas Mallon wrote about the book for The New Yorker.[27] Review coverage also appeared in The Atlantic,[28] The Washington Post,[29] the Wall Street Journal,[30] and other newspapers and magazines.

In an interview with The Independent in 2015 Lee stated that he relocated to New York from London in 2012.[31] The author's Twitter page[32] states that he currently lives in Brooklyn. In an interview for The Paris Review in 2016 the author stated that he is working on another book.[33]

In May 2016 it was reported in The Hollywood Reporter that Lee's novel High Dive was being adapted into a feature film by Director Brian Kirk.[34]

References

  1. ^ Amazon: Who is Mr Satoshi? by Jonathan Lee: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Mr-Satoshi-Jonathan-Lee/dp/0099537680/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452389796&sr=8-1&keywords=jonathan+lee+who+is+mr+satoshi
  2. ^ Amazon: Joy by Jonathan Lee: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joy-Jonathan-Lee/dp/0099537699/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452389842&sr=8-1&keywords=joy+jonathan+lee
  3. ^ Amazon: High Dive by Jonathan Lee: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/043402337X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=1FVD3NQEJTGTAF2T6J66&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=577048787&pf_rd_i=desktop
  4. ^ Burgess, Malcolm. "10 of the best books set in Tokyo". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  5. ^ Mary Fitzgerald (2010-07-21). "Debut fiction: Mr Peanut by Adam Ross; Who Is Mr Satoshi? by Jonathan Lee; Tinkers by Paul Harding | Books | The Observer". Guardian. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  6. ^ "Who is Mr Satoshi?, By Jonathan Lee". The Independent. 2010-08-13. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  7. ^ Victoria Moore (2010-08-04). "Debuts | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  8. ^ Haslett, Adam. "Who is Mr Satoshi?: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathan Lee". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  9. ^ "2010 Readers' First Book Award winner announced". Edinburgh International Book Festival. 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  10. ^ "The Desmond Elliott Prize 2011 LONGLIST ANNOUNCED". The Desmond Elliott Prize. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  11. ^ "Author's A to Z". Aitkenalexander.co.uk. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  12. ^ "Joy by Jonathan Lee – review". 17 June 2012.
  13. ^ Amazon: Joy by Jonathan Lee: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Joy-Jonathan-Lee/dp/0099537699/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452389842&sr=8-1&keywords=joy+jonathan+lee
  14. ^ Selka, Elizabeth Hilliard (2012). "Joy by Jonathan Lee « Book Oxygen". bookoxygen.com. Retrieved October 15, 2012.
  15. ^ The Guardian: Joy by Jonathan Lee: http://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/jun/07/joy-jonathan-lee-review
  16. ^ Book Trust Prizes 2014: http://www.booktrust.org.uk/prizes/5/2014
  17. ^ Sunday Times EFG Prize Longlist: The World's Richest Short Story Prize: http://robaroundbooks.com/2014/02/sunday-times-efg-short-story-award-longlist-announced/
  18. ^ a b Amazon: High Dive by Jonathan Lee: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/043402337X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=132SFDA8AJD25QD9H6WF&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=577048407&pf_rd_i=desktop
  19. ^ The Guardian Saturday Review: High Dive by Jonathan Lee: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/16/high-dive-jonathan-lee-review
  20. ^ The Guardian: Books of the Year 2015: http://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2015/nov/29/best-books-of-2015-part-two
  21. ^ The Independent: High Dive by Jonathan Lee: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/high-dive-by-jonathan-lee-book-review-a-well-constructed-tale-of-an-atrocity-told-with-integrity-a6736696.html
  22. ^ The Financial Times: High Dive by Jonathan Lee: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/84bf54da-8a1b-11e5-90de-f44762bf9896.html
  23. ^ BBC Radio: Open Book: Jonathan Lee on High Dive: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06j0wff
  24. ^ Barnes & Noble: High Dive by Jonathan Lee: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/high-dive-jonathan-lee/1122135414
  25. ^ "Editors' Choice". The New York Times. 2016-04-15. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  26. ^ Senior, Jennifer (2016-03-13). "Review: Jonathan Lee's 'High Dive' Revisits a Plot to Kill Margaret Thatcher". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  27. ^ Mallon, Thomas (2016-03-14). "Room Service". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  28. ^ Robson, Leo. "The Many Distortions of Maggie Thatcher". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  29. ^ Michaud, Jon (2016-03-04). "'High Dive' review: A bomb is ticking under the prime minister". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  30. ^ Nolan, Tom (2016-03-11). "The Plot Against Thatcher". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  31. ^ The Independent: Jonathan Lee interview: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/jonathan-lee-done-well-fiction-opens-history-up-a6696926.html
  32. ^ Twitter: Jonathan Lee: https://twitter.com/JonLeeWriter?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
  33. ^ Lacey, Catherine (2016-03-04). "Under the Skin of History: An Interview with Jonathan Lee". Paris Review Daily. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  34. ^ "Cannes: Beyonce's 'Lemonade' Producers Developing Margaret Thatcher Assassination Thriller (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
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