{"product_id":"9781555977764","title":"Happy Baby : A Novel","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eHappy Baby\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Stephen Elliott\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Heartbreakingly and bewilderingly alive in a way most bigger books can’t even imagine.” —\u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn a flight from Oakland to Chicago, Theo thinks about two women he  left behind: Maria, the girlfriend who shared his troubled youth, and  Ambellina, the woman who has been satisfying the masochistic desires  that emerged from it. His return to Chicago, and Maria, spurs the  backward movement of this innovative novel that chases him ever deeper  into the darkness and violence of his past.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a boy, Theo was shuffled from juvenile delinquent centers to foster homes,  picking up odd jobs, addictions, and ill-fitting relationships along the  way. Scenes of abuse and heartache are revealed chapter by chapter, but  our discovery of his dignity and humanity continues, even when we  are finally confronted with the eleven-year-old child who barely  remembers what it feels like to be safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this  beautiful and brutal novel, Stephen Elliott follows in the footsteps of  writers like Hubert Selby and Dennis Cooper, of “sexual truth-tellers”  like Jean Genet and Marguerite Duras. Elliott writes with raw honesty and a tight yet lyric prose style that cuts through the fog of memory to  get at the core of youth, pain, and what it means to be an outsider.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eHappy Baby\u003c\/i\u003e  is surely the most intelligent and beautiful book ever written about  juvenile detention centers, sadomasochism, and drugs . . .  Heartbreaking.” —Curtis Sittenfeld, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781555977764\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Graywolf Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40656597909710,"sku":"9781555977764","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_57873f1c-7265-4818-b5aa-b60bc4407db3.jpg?v=1639451309","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781555977764","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}