| Author: | John Colapinto | ISBN: | 9781619028135 |
| Publisher: | Counterpoint Press | Publication: | March 21, 2016 |
| Imprint: | Soft Skull Press | Language: | English |
| Author: | John Colapinto |
| ISBN: | 9781619028135 |
| Publisher: | Counterpoint Press |
| Publication: | March 21, 2016 |
| Imprint: | Soft Skull Press |
| Language: | English |
A horrifying, hilarious and subversive “work of literary devilry” about lust and envy, a man and a girl, and a plan (The New York Times).
Hailed as “wicked, sexy, funny, ghastly, [and] tragic” (Michael-Lindsay Hogg), Undone is the tour-de-force black comedy by International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Nominee John Colapinto—“a pseudo-incestuous thriller, a noir that, like Francine Prose’s Blue Angel and Philip Roth’s American Pastoral, details the unraveling of the moral American man and his world” (The Globe and Mail).
Dez is a former lawyer, disgraced teacher, and unrepentant ephebophile hiding out in a trailer park with his latest teenage conquest, Chloe. Having been in and out of courtrooms (and therapists’ offices) for years, Dez is adrift, and at odds with a society that persecutes him over his desires. Then one afternoon Dez sees an interview with Jasper Ulrickson, a doting father and loving husband whose heartrending memoir is a national bestseller. It chronicles his journey with his wife who suffered a stroke giving birth to their only child and has been in a locked-in state ever since. Espousing their deep connection and chaste marriage, Jasper’s selfless devotion to his wife has made him one of the most popular and admired men in America.
So Dez sets out to do what any red-blooded American would do: destroy Ulrickson by using Chloe to pose as the righteous author’s long-lost daughter, infiltrate his family, seduce him, and, when he’s sent to jail for a little consanguineous coupling, claim his fortune.
“Cannily over the top in its comic depravity and magnetizing in its sympathy, Colapinto’s battle royale of innocence and evil, blindness and illumination, betrayal and love (Booklist Starred Review) “is one of the most profoundly disturbing novels you’ll ever read —there’s not a taboo John Colapinto isn’t willing to skewer—but it’s also one of the most entertaining” (Tod Goldberg, author of Gangsterland).
A horrifying, hilarious and subversive “work of literary devilry” about lust and envy, a man and a girl, and a plan (The New York Times).
Hailed as “wicked, sexy, funny, ghastly, [and] tragic” (Michael-Lindsay Hogg), Undone is the tour-de-force black comedy by International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Nominee John Colapinto—“a pseudo-incestuous thriller, a noir that, like Francine Prose’s Blue Angel and Philip Roth’s American Pastoral, details the unraveling of the moral American man and his world” (The Globe and Mail).
Dez is a former lawyer, disgraced teacher, and unrepentant ephebophile hiding out in a trailer park with his latest teenage conquest, Chloe. Having been in and out of courtrooms (and therapists’ offices) for years, Dez is adrift, and at odds with a society that persecutes him over his desires. Then one afternoon Dez sees an interview with Jasper Ulrickson, a doting father and loving husband whose heartrending memoir is a national bestseller. It chronicles his journey with his wife who suffered a stroke giving birth to their only child and has been in a locked-in state ever since. Espousing their deep connection and chaste marriage, Jasper’s selfless devotion to his wife has made him one of the most popular and admired men in America.
So Dez sets out to do what any red-blooded American would do: destroy Ulrickson by using Chloe to pose as the righteous author’s long-lost daughter, infiltrate his family, seduce him, and, when he’s sent to jail for a little consanguineous coupling, claim his fortune.
“Cannily over the top in its comic depravity and magnetizing in its sympathy, Colapinto’s battle royale of innocence and evil, blindness and illumination, betrayal and love (Booklist Starred Review) “is one of the most profoundly disturbing novels you’ll ever read —there’s not a taboo John Colapinto isn’t willing to skewer—but it’s also one of the most entertaining” (Tod Goldberg, author of Gangsterland).
