ABQ Book Club - July Meetup!
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About our July selection, Shining City, from Publisher's Weekly:
Shining City by Seth Greenland
Greenland's uproarious second novel (after The Bones) follows the manifold ups and downs of Marcus Ripps, an unemployed and ill-fated altruist who inherits from his estranged brother an escort service run out of a Hollywood dry cleaning shop. Burdened by mounting debt and his chilly wife, Jan, and concerned that he won't be able to pay for his son's bar mitzvah, Marcus decides to become a pimp. With assistance from Kostya, his brother's former bodyguard, Marcus not only keeps the business afloat, he improves it and offers the prostitutes health insurance and retirement plans. After a john dies handcuffed to a bed, Marcus enlists Jan's help to dump the body. Eager to work with her husband, Jan joins the company, a move that improves their marriage and business, as the Smart Tarts (as Jan names the service) becomes a Web-based cash cow. (Even Jan's ailing mother gets involved.) Things turn around for the Ripps, but trouble comes when a rival pimp threatens Marcus's life. Despite some predictable plot twists and the requisite Hollywood ending, Greenland's novel is entertaining and intelligent, and packed with enough hooks (and hookers) to keep readers sucked in to the last page.
The Critics Say:
- Rarely do novels that are so ruthlessly satiric have such a warm heart. Greenland achieves a deft balance between the preposterous and the plausible. (Kirkus, starred review)
- Uproarious. Greenland's novel is entertaining and intelligent, and packed with enough hooks (and hookers) to keep readers sucked in to the last page. (Publishers Weekly)
- Sweet, sparkling, gorgeous. Cruel. Greenland writes masterfully about the underbelly of Los Angeles. The funniest, most interesting writer about the world's weirdest city, Greenland shines brightly amongst his less-in-the-know peers. (Joy Nicholson, author of The Road to Esmeralda and The Tribes of Palos Verdes)
Our July selection goes On Sale Tuesday, July 8th! Buy it here: http://www.amazon.com...
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