In The Great World (Small)
The narrator is unapologetic, rude, lazy, occasionally noble, generally a coward, and always his own worst enemy. He’s somehow managed to create a comfortable – if shaky – bubble of comfort in Phoenix after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He lives in a cheap motel; he hangs out at the MTP Sports Bar and Grill – when he has money – and drinks in his room when he doesn’t. He scrapes by on day labor and a short-term work ethic. He’s got no interest in regular work, going back to college, doing anything, or maintaining a relationship.
Through him we meet other people who are just as broken, though less aware of their situation, and we view the world the narrator lives in: a post 9/11 two-dimensional world without morality or ethics, where people get screwed over whether they do the right thing or not; a world of drug dealers, abused wives, manipulated boy toys, bookies, hookers, crooked cops, and a cocaine-addled bar owner. All of them are, like the narrator, just looking for some kind of shaky comfort in the world; and, just like the narrator, unable to find it.
As the story progresses, the narrator mingles bits of his own life – a Midwestern semi-religious upbringing, the death of his father, a failed early marriage, a deserted college career – in with the sometimes unflattering descriptions of the people around him. And finally, as the shaky world he’s created around himself starts to fall apart – the day jobs run out, the bar is closing, the motel is shut down so that the local university can build a parking garage – he finds himself forced to do the one thing he never really likes to do: make a decision about what to do next.
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Through him we meet other people who are just as broken, though less aware of their situation, and we view the world the narrator lives in: a post 9/11 two-dimensional world without morality or ethics, where people get screwed over whether they do the right thing or not; a world of drug dealers, abused wives, manipulated boy toys, bookies, hookers, crooked cops, and a cocaine-addled bar owner. All of them are, like the narrator, just looking for some kind of shaky comfort in the world; and, just like the narrator, unable to find it.
As the story progresses, the narrator mingles bits of his own life – a Midwestern semi-religious upbringing, the death of his father, a failed early marriage, a deserted college career – in with the sometimes unflattering descriptions of the people around him. And finally, as the shaky world he’s created around himself starts to fall apart – the day jobs run out, the bar is closing, the motel is shut down so that the local university can build a parking garage – he finds himself forced to do the one thing he never really likes to do: make a decision about what to do next.
In The Great World (Small)
The narrator is unapologetic, rude, lazy, occasionally noble, generally a coward, and always his own worst enemy. He’s somehow managed to create a comfortable – if shaky – bubble of comfort in Phoenix after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He lives in a cheap motel; he hangs out at the MTP Sports Bar and Grill – when he has money – and drinks in his room when he doesn’t. He scrapes by on day labor and a short-term work ethic. He’s got no interest in regular work, going back to college, doing anything, or maintaining a relationship.
Through him we meet other people who are just as broken, though less aware of their situation, and we view the world the narrator lives in: a post 9/11 two-dimensional world without morality or ethics, where people get screwed over whether they do the right thing or not; a world of drug dealers, abused wives, manipulated boy toys, bookies, hookers, crooked cops, and a cocaine-addled bar owner. All of them are, like the narrator, just looking for some kind of shaky comfort in the world; and, just like the narrator, unable to find it.
As the story progresses, the narrator mingles bits of his own life – a Midwestern semi-religious upbringing, the death of his father, a failed early marriage, a deserted college career – in with the sometimes unflattering descriptions of the people around him. And finally, as the shaky world he’s created around himself starts to fall apart – the day jobs run out, the bar is closing, the motel is shut down so that the local university can build a parking garage – he finds himself forced to do the one thing he never really likes to do: make a decision about what to do next.
Through him we meet other people who are just as broken, though less aware of their situation, and we view the world the narrator lives in: a post 9/11 two-dimensional world without morality or ethics, where people get screwed over whether they do the right thing or not; a world of drug dealers, abused wives, manipulated boy toys, bookies, hookers, crooked cops, and a cocaine-addled bar owner. All of them are, like the narrator, just looking for some kind of shaky comfort in the world; and, just like the narrator, unable to find it.
As the story progresses, the narrator mingles bits of his own life – a Midwestern semi-religious upbringing, the death of his father, a failed early marriage, a deserted college career – in with the sometimes unflattering descriptions of the people around him. And finally, as the shaky world he’s created around himself starts to fall apart – the day jobs run out, the bar is closing, the motel is shut down so that the local university can build a parking garage – he finds himself forced to do the one thing he never really likes to do: make a decision about what to do next.
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In The Great World (Small)
In The Great World (Small)
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Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940011919718 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dead Machine Press |
| Publication date: | 11/07/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 266 KB |
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