Category: personal

An essay of mine appears on Powells.com, in which I discuss the troubling absence of the poor in current fiction. Here is a snippet:

Poverty has receded from the list of popular themes of the American novel. No longer do we have a John Steinbeck, a Richard Wright, a Theodore Dreiser, or a Zora Neale Hurston writing about the working poor. Who today would write that “In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage”? It would not be an exaggeration to say that, in the last decade, American fiction has been fixated on the middle and upper classes. The suburban novel dramatized their love affairs, their existential crises, and their boredom with a life of carpools. (The Ice Storm, Little Children.) The chick-lit novel enjoyed tremendous popularity by featuring women who worry about their weight, their shoes, and dating the right man. (The Devil Wears Prada, Bergdorf Blondes.) The campus novel brought us academics’ anxieties over racial discrimination or tenure or old age. (The Human Stain, Wonder Boys.) Meanwhile, the poor were stuck with silent or supporting roles. Something very tangible happened to American protagonists in the last ten years. Unlike a great many of their fellow countrymen, they stopped worrying about making rent.

You can read it all here. Other original essays appear here.

A brief but very nice review of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits appears in the current issue of People, with gossip couple of the moment Ahston and Demi on the cover.

If you’ve found this site through the review, welcome. Here you can find out more about my novel, read some reviews I’ve written, some rants on politics, get current literary news, and so on. Take a look around and let me know what you think.

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits appears in the October/November issue of Bust, with hot mama Susan Sarandon on the cover. You can read a snippet of it here. For the full review, check out your local newstand.

I went to Powell’s yesterday to pick up a gift for a friend, and, there, in the lobby, were copies of my book, next to Zadie Smith’s On Beauty. It’s a hard act to follow, but don’t worry, Zadie, you’ll do just fine. (I kid, I kid.)

I was surprised because Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits doesn’t officially come out until October 7, but I suppose the shipments arrived early. A quick check online showed that both Powells.com and Amazon.com have it available already.

Check out your favorite local bookstore and let me know if you see my book there. (Send me a picture if you happen to have a camera phone!) And while you’re at it, pick up a copy if you like.

Only three more weeks before the release of Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits! Here’s some exciting news: My editor wrote me a couple of days ago to tell me that my book will be a Booksense November pick. I’ve been buried under a pile of work for the last three weeks, so finding out that independent bookstores are supporting Hope was both delightful and unexpected.

My first book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, is reviewed at Small Spiral Notebook and Rockslinga. It’s also mentioned in Newsday’s fall reading list.