A blistering debut novel from a prodigious young writer, brilliantly parroting a panoply of voices--"documents" official, historical, commercial, and personal--to satirize both the absurdities and indignities of modern life and the darker forces that bubble beneath.
Aaron Thier was born in Baltimore and raised in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he now lives with his wife. His writing has appeared in The Nation and The New Republic, among other places. This is his first novel. www.aaron-thier.com
Loopy course descriptions, the minutiae of faculty meetings, blurbs from the school newspaper, et al., create a delicious texture and form the structure of the book ... A droll comedy of modern manners, incisive without being angry, this satire within satire within satire will delight the right audience. -- starred review Publishers Weekly An improbable laugh riot. -- starred review Kirkus Reviews Through an insanely fun mixture of pseudo-historical letters, blog posts, emails, newsletters, advertisements, and even course listings, Thier takes readers on a dark tour of life at Tripoli College. [A] raucous adventure. Booklist A meditation on globalization, higher education, slavery, disease, and the addictive effects of all-you-can-eat pudding, this novel is at once lyrical and satirical, formally inventive and steeped in tradition, It is the sort of book that makes you laugh only until you realize how sharp its bite is. -- David Leavitt Had Donald Barthelme written Absalom, Absalom!, this is it. -- Padgett Powell Antic, darkly funny, and--like all the best satire--deadly serious beneath its surface, this unusually inventive debut reads like a classic campus novel shredded, set on fire, and rebuilt by Jonathan Swift. -- Andrea Barrett, author of ARCHANGEL This is a damn good novel. It's patient, weird, fun and, most of all, smart. It had me from the first line. -- Percival Everett, author of I AM NOT SIDNEY POITIER and PERCIVAL EVERETT BY VIRGIL RUSSELL As deadpan as Donald Bathelme's best work and as antic as John Barth's, The Ghost Apple provides further compelling evidence, for those who still need it, about the ways in which our most cherished and trusted institutions always manage to facilitate the process of sending our world to hell in a hand basket. Aaron Thier is a smart and funny and passionate new voice. -- Jim Shepard, author of National Book Award finalist LIKE YOU'D UNDERSTAND, ANYWAY
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