A classic, smart comedy about a meek college professor who achieves one of mankind's most fervent wishes- the ability to fly.
Barry Schecter is the author of the novel The Blindfold Test. His short fiction, poetry, and criticism have appeared in the Paris Review, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Review. He's a lifelong resident of Chicago.
“Just a cunning party trick? Or a true 21st Century miracle? It is
a nice little riddle and, as the plot thickens, George [Entmen]
proves such an engagingly self-deprecating narrator that you want
to know where his strange odyssey will end.“ —The Daily Mail
"You might think it'd be difficult to contemplate philosophical
matters with your nose four inches from the carpet, but Barry
Schechter, writing with an incisive eye, a spry mind, and a
towering heart, not only pilots us through a turbulent set of Big
Questions but even arrives at the answers, arguing sublimely for
the value of living a dignified life in hilariously undignified
times." —Jeremy P. Bushnell, author of The Weirdness
“One of the funniest novels I’ve ever read. I dare you not to love
this book – not to hoot out loud at every page, nor marvel at the
novel’s poignant social satire, genuine warmth, and careening
twists and turns. Useless Miracle is a necessary
wonder.” —Christopher Boucher, author of How to Keep Your
Volkswagen Alive
"Schechter deftly balances lush and descriptive prose with humorous
dialogue, creating a complex plot from a mundane miracle and a cast
of witty characters."—The Arkansas International
Praise for Barry Schechter’s The Blindfold Test
“Barry Schechter regards the dirty tricks with which life undoes
his protagonist with a kind of glee. We are reminded that Kafka was
supposed to have held his sides laughing while he read friends his
stories.” —Lore Segal, author of Half the Kingdom
“The Blindfold Test is a beautiful and terrifying pleasure, a
metaphysically witty novel rich with melancholy joie de vivre.”
—Matthew Sharpe, author of The Sleeping Father
“Schechter . . . skews the horrible world to just the right kind of
acceptable lunacy.” —Han Ong, author of The Disinherited
"The kind of novel Woody Allen and Hunter S. Thompson would’ve
written together if they could’ve gotten along … That Schechter can
combine HST’s gonzo morality and pacing with Allen’s deadpan is
almost too much. But still, we couldn’t get enough.”
—Jonathan Messinger, TimeOut Chicago
“Part-comedy, part-thriller . . . The Blindfold Test is
blanketed with paranoia, quite Kafkaesque . . .” —New City
Lit
“The slapstick comedy . . . never entirely drowns out an
undercurrent of hard-won paranoia. And the best thing that
Schechter does, the thing that earns his book a deserved double
take, happens when you hear the conspiratorial whispers
yourself.” —Philadelphia City Paper
“A funny book with lots of local color.” —Chicago Reader
“A playful and thought-provoking book about how—and whether—we
accept our fate.” —The Second Pass
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