{"product_id":"9780312424848","title":"Passionate Spectator : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003ePassionate Spectator\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Eric Kraft\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003ePassionate Spectator\u003c\/i\u003e, memoirist Peter Leroy and his wife Albertine are living by the skin of their teeth in Manhattan. Casting about for a source of income, Peter purchases a book from a homeless peddler, \u003ci\u003eCreative Self-Promotion for Taxidermists\u003c\/i\u003e, hoping he can adapt its techniques to promote his fledgling business: Memoirs While You Wait. That book opens into a beguiling journey from fiction to truth and back again, involving Peter, his childhood friend Matthew Barber (who is undergoing emergency heart surgery), and Peter's witty, urbane alter-ego, Bertram W. Beath--an erotic opportunist and \"passionate spectator\"of life's pageant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The only American author since Pynchon to completely erase the line between the literary novel and the spit-out-your-coffee comedy.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The novel playfully riffs on \u003ci\u003eProust\u003c\/i\u003e and the\u003ci\u003e Nabokov of Pale Fire\u003c\/i\u003e, and its denouement touches on \u003ci\u003eThe Odyssey\u003c\/i\u003e and '\u003ci\u003eJack in the Beanstalk\u003c\/i\u003e.' That the book also manages to entertain the neophyte is a credit to Kraft's colorful incisive prose and off-kilter wit.” —\u003ci\u003eTime Out (New York )\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Kraft manages to spin one delicate yarn after another by mixing a dollop of plot with observations, asides, offbeat humor, and an abiding and infectious enthusiasm.” —\u003ci\u003eThe San Diego Union-Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780312424848\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Picador","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40663924375758,"sku":"9780312424848","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_f2b43c90-1b5f-479f-9e03-003d0c12c974.jpg?v=1639624754","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780312424848","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}