Synopsis: When Hali’s father asks her to secretly help him commit suicide in order to spare the family the misery of a long illness, she reluctantly agrees. While Hali’s family insists on letting “God’s will” decide, she cannot agree, brooding upon the idea of predetermination and an afterlife in way that is both challenging and deeply moving. Hali is ultimately unable to do what her father wishes, and she is forced to accept the help of a manipulative male nurse, adding further complications and a slow and painful end.
Praise for Naked Singularity
“Best of 2003” –Dallas Observer
“A painful tale [about euthanasia]. The emotions are raw at times, but there’s a cool tone of postmodern post-mortem throughout as well, raising hackles and sympathy from first to last.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Alexander takes on a gut-wrenching topic in this ambitious second novel… [she] writes eloquently about the family’s daily emotional pain… [and] the lurid, macabre ending [is] a climax that seems barely believable.” –Publishers Weekly
“…both deeply intellectual and an extremely sexual” –Ethical Culture Review
“Beautifully written” –Texas Books in Review
“Alexander takes the reader down an intriguing road loaded with questions and choices, none of them easy.” –Curled up with a Good Book Review
“Woven into Naked Singularity’s metaphors and narrative is a profound understanding of chaos and complexity. It renders esoteric constructs concrete, and in a setting none of us can escape.” –J. P. Crutchfield, author of “Chaos,” Scientific American
