Erasure - by Percival Everett (Paperback)
Similar Products
Products of same category from the store
All
Product info
<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>Thelonius "Monk" Ellison is an erudite, accomplished but seldom-read author who insists on writing obscure literary papers rather than the so-called "ghetto prose" that would make him a commercial success. He finally succumbs to temptation after seeing the Oberlin-educated author of We's Lives in da Ghetto during her appearance on a talk show, firing back with a parody called My Pafology, which he submits to his startled agent under the gangsta pseudonym of Stagg R. Leigh. Ellison quickly finds himself with a six-figure advance from a major house, a multimillion-dollar offer for the movie rights and a monster bestseller on his hands. The money helps with a family crisis, allowing Ellison to care for his widowed mother as she drifts into the fog of Alzheimer's, but it doesn't ease the pain after his sister, a physician, is shot by right-wing fanatics for performing abortions. The dark side of wealth surfaces when both the movie mogul and talk-show host demand to meet the nonexistent Leigh, forcing Ellison to don a disguise and invent a sullen, enigmatic character to meet the demands of the market. The final indignity occurs when Ellison becomes a judge for a major book award and My Pafology (title changed to Fuck) gets nominated, forcing the author to come to terms with his perverse literary joke. Percival's talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Wright and Ellison as he skewers the conventions of racial and political correctness. (Sept. 21)Forecast: Everett has been well-reviewed before, but his latest far surpasses his previous efforts. Passionate word of mouth (of which there should be plenty), rave reviews (ditto) and the startling cover (a young, smiling black boy holding a toy gun to his head) could help turn this into a genuine publishing event.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>Percival Everett's blistering satire about race and writing, available again in paperback <p/>Thelonious Monk Ellison's writing career has bottomed out: his latest manuscript has been rejected by seventeen publishers, which stings all the more because his previous novels have been critically acclaimed. He seethes on the sidelines of the literary establishment as he watches the meteoric success of <i>We's Lives in Da Ghetto</i>, a first novel by a woman who once visited some relatives in Harlem for a couple of days. Meanwhile, Monk struggles with real family tragedies--his aged mother is fast succumbing to Alzheimer's, and he still grapples with the reverberations of his father's suicide seven years before. <p/>In his rage and despair, Monk dashes off a novel meant to be an indictment of Juanita Mae Jenkins's bestseller. He doesn't intend for <i>My Pafology </i>to be published, let alone taken seriously, but it is--under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh--and soon it becomes the Next Big Thing. How Monk deals with the personal and professional fallout galvanizes this audacious, hysterical, and quietly devastating novel.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><p>"Erasure is as watertight and hilarious a satire as, say, [Evelyn Waugh's] <i>Scoop</i> . . . [Everett] is a first-rate word wrangler." --<i>Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian</i> <p/>"With equal measures of sympathy and satire, [<i>Erasure</i>] craftily addresses the highly charged issue of being 'black enough' in America." --<i>Jenifer Berman, The New York Times Book Review</i> <p/>"An over-the-top masterpiece. . . . Percival's talent is multifaceted, sparked by a satiric brilliance that could place him alongside Wright and Ellison as he skewers the conventions of racial and political correctness." --<i>Publishers Weekly</i> <p/>"A scathingly funny look at racism and the book business: editors, publishers, readers, and writers alike." --<i>Booklist</i> <p/>"More genuine and tender than much of Everett's previous work, but no less impressive intellectually: a high point in an already substantial literary career." --<i>Kirkus Reviews</i> <p/>"The sharp satire on American publishers and American readers that Everett puts forward is delicious, though it won't win him many friends among the sentimental educated class who want to read something serious about black inner-city life without disturbing any of their stereotypes." --<i>Chicago Tribune</i></p><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><p><b>Percival Everett</b> is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California and the author of seventeen novels, including <i>I Am Not Sidney Poitier</i>, <i>The Water Cure</i>, <i>Wounded</i>, and <i>Glyph</i>.</p>
Price History
Price Archive shows prices from various stores, lets you see history and find the cheapest. There is no actual sale on the website. For all support, inquiry and suggestion messagescommunication@pricearchive.us