The Subprimes - by Karl Taro Greenfeld (Paperback)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>A wickedly funny dystopian parody set in a financially apocalyptic future America, from the critically acclaimed author of <em>Triburbia.</em></p><p>In a future America that feels increasingly familiar, you are your credit score. Extreme wealth inequality has created a class of have-nothings: Subprimes. Their bad credit ratings make them unemployable. Jobless and without assets, they've walked out on mortgages, been foreclosed upon, or can no longer afford a fixed address. Fugitives who must keep moving to avoid arrest, they wander the globally warmed American wasteland searching for day labor and a place to park their battered SUVs for the night.</p><p>Karl Taro Greenfeld's trenchant satire follows the fortunes of two families whose lives reflect this new dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-financially-fittest America. Desperate for work and food, a Subprime family has been forced to migrate east, hoping for a better life. They are soon joined in their odyssey by a writer and his family--slightly better off, yet falling fast. Eventually, they discover a small settlement of Subprimes who have begun an agrarian utopia built on a foreclosed exurb. Soon, though, the little stability they have is threatened when their land is targeted by job creators for shale oil extraction.</p><p>But all is not lost. A hero emerges, a woman on a motorcycle--suspiciously lacking a credit score--who just may save the world.</p><p>In <em>The Subprimes</em>, Karl Taro Greenfeld turns his keen and unflinching eye to our country today--and where we may be headed. The result is a novel for the 99 percent: a darkly funny comedy about paradise lost and found, the value of credit, economic policy, and the meaning of family.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> From the Back Cover </b></p></br></br><p>In a future America that feels increasingly familiar, you are your credit score. Extreme wealth inequality has created a class of have-nothings: Subprimes. Their bad credit ratings have lost them jobs and make them unemployable. Jobless and without assets, they have walked out on mortgages, been foreclosed upon, or can no longer afford a fixed address. Fugitives who must keep moving to avoid arrest, they wander the globally warmed American wasteland searching for day labor and a place to park their battered SUVs for the night.</p><p>Karl Taro Greenfeld's trenchant satire follows the fortunes of two families whose lives reflect this new dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-financially-fittest America. Desperate for work and food, a Californian Subprime family has been forced to migrate east, hoping for a better life. They are soon joined in their odyssey by a writer and his family--slightly better off but falling fast. Eventually they discover a small settlement of Subprimes who have begun an agrarian utopia built on a foreclosed exurb. Soon, though, the little stability they have is threatened when their land is targeted by job creators for shale-oil extraction.</p><p>But all is not lost. A hero emerges--a woman on a motorcycle--suspiciously lacking a credit score . . . who may just save the world.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"<i>The Subprimes</i> admirably -- amazingly -- superimposes all the populist instincts of <i>The Grapes of Wrath</i> onto a dystopian future that is all too visible from our current moment. Greenfeld's compassion and understanding -- this novel's beating heart -- are what grabbed me most."--<b>Charles Bock</b><br><br>"<i>The Subprimes</i> holds up a funhouse-mirror version of ourselves and our era. Karl Taro Greenfeld has written a masterful, viciously funny satire of our times, one that we ignore at our peril."--<b>Ben Fountain</b><br><br>"A little Occupy, a little Ed Abbey, and a good deal of hope for solidarity in a screwed-up world -- <i>The Subprimes</i> is a superhero story for the rest of us."--<b>Bill McKibben</b><br><br>"Greenfeld has a tendency to lean toward parody in his satiric style, but here he employs enough authenticity to terrify, enough black humor to disarm the story's inherent pessimism, and a surprising admiration for faith in its myriad forms."--<b><i>Kirkus</i></b><br><br>"Greenfeld has produced a fascinating novel about life in the age of economic uncertainty. It's a colorful tale of characters living on the edge combined with sharp social insights."--<b>Walter Isaacson</b><br><br>"It's hard for a fiction writer to know how to engage the present American moment. This powder-keg culture might seem like rich material, but dramatizing it is harder than it appears. Greenfeld is one of the writers we can watch trying to figure it out."--<b>Jonathan Dee, <i>Harper's</i></b><br><br>"Set in a meticulously, terrifyingly imagined all-too-near future, <i>The Subprimes</i> is a potent cocktail of North American myth, equal parts John Steinbeck and Margaret Atwood, with a dash of benzene."--<b>William Gibson</b><br><br>"Sharply observed and engrossing, <i>The Subprimes</i> depicts a future that is simultaneously absurd...and plausible. It would be too scary to read if it weren't so entertaining."--<b>Edan Lepucki</b><br><br>"With sharp and indicting fury and humor, profound compassion, deep respect, and literary prowess, Greenfeld has written a scorching, twenty-first-century <i>Grapes of Wrath</i> that perfectly captures our time's suffering and potentially apocalyptic greed and folly."--<b><i>Booklist</i> (starred review)</b><br>
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