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In this, his third novel, acclaimed author Mark Merlis artfully intertwines the pathos of loneliness with a subtle critique of the American political machine.             Joel Lingeman has it all: an overpaid sinecure advising Congress, a fifteen-year partnership with a perfectly adequate lover, a cosy circle of drinking buddies. Until one day his world implodes. His lover runs off, working for Congress starts to seem like a felony instead of a privilege, and Joel is hurled back into the dating game he couldn't manage twenty years earlier.             Amid the rubble he finds himself clinging to an image from his boyhood: a model in a swimsuit ad, who had beckoned to young Joel to step through the page and into another life. Aided by a detective who is more elusive than his quarry, Joel sets out to discover the real person he knows only from a fading photograph.             Joel's journey – touching, comic, and deftly observed – overlays a whip-smart critique of the cynicism and buffoonery of Capitol Hill and a gently acerbic account of how people break up and how they get together. Clever, wry, and knowing, Mark Merlis's third novel contains an unforgettable new twist on the idea that the personal is political.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49594037305617,"sku":"GOR004036425","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52488871608593,"sku":"NLS9780007150830","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007150830.jpg?v=1751163095"},{"product_id":"american-studies-book-mark-merlis-9781857024135","title":"American Studies","description":"A debut novel from this author, a novel based on the reminiscences of a 62-year-old gay man as he lies in his hospital bed recovering from being beaten up.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49619625869585,"sku":"GOR002017984","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51084363038993,"sku":"GOR004892311","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1857024133.jpg?v=1751451651"},{"product_id":"american-studies-book-mark-merlis-9780007292202","title":"American Studies","description":"Mark Merlis’ exceptional first novel. 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She finds journals that begin as a wisecracking chronicle of life at the fringes of the New York literary scene, Jonathan’s adventures in the sexual underground, and the social upheavals that led to his famous book JD. As Martha reads on, she finds herself in a long-distance conversation with her dead husband, fighting with him again about their rocky life together and learning about the unseen tragic drama in her own apartment that ended with the destruction of their son, Mickey. Learning about herself, finally, through her confrontation with a man who will not let her go, even in death. 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Meet Reeve who thinks his life is over: his career is at an end and his landlord is evicting him because he made too much noise when a hustler beat him up. As he lies in his hospital bed, he finds himself brooding about the parallel ruin of his mentor Tom Slater, a famous American literary scholar. There is the further distraction of the patient in the next bed, a silent youth who arouses the desire in Reeve for straight men. One of the finest first novels to appear in many a moon. Its simple, noble, graceful prose refreshes the very language, and its unsquinting portrayal of gay men is searing and authentic. Merlis's novel belongs to the best of contemporary literature, gay or other. - Library Journal Mark Merlis's first novel accomplishes that great thing that gives fiction its claim on truth: It creates a world so real that readers believe they live in it.This is a book that transcends genre in portraying the abyss that divides one ostracized human soul from all others. - Los Angeles Times The power of this novel is in Merlis's writerly skill (his fiercely perfect timing, his flawless, always believable diction), in his comprehension of American cultural history, and ultimately in his human wisdom.With this novel, gay literature enters maturity. - James White Review Stunningly good.Haunting, funny, and masterfully written, American Studies provides keen insight into our own history and our lives. -- Genre Desolating, bitterly comic, beautifully written.an eye-opening and heart-opening book. - Richard Wilbur","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50206242177297,"sku":"CIN1514788349G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51032455020817,"sku":"NIN9781514788349","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1514788349.jpg?v=1750957870"},{"product_id":"man-about-town-book-mark-merlis-9780007156115","title":"Man About Town","description":"A poignant and satirical tale of one man's struggle to overcome the ghosts of his past and make sense of the present. 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When a teenage fantasy reasserts itself, the blond haired demi-god his eye once fell upon modelling swimsuits in the back of an old magazine, Joel is overcome by a pervasive sense of loss and embarks on a quest to hunt down 'the Santa Fe boy'.             Astutely observed and resonant with dark, sardonic undertones, Man About Town is an unforgettable novel about losing your way, your self-esteem and your security.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50342004949265,"sku":"CIN0007156111G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52718015217937,"sku":"CIN0007156111VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0007156111.jpg?v=1750842339"},{"product_id":"man-about-town-book-mark-merlis-9780007156122","title":"Man About Town","description":"A poignant and satirical tale of one man's struggle to overcome the ghosts of his past and make sense of the present. In this, his third novel, acclaimed author Mark Merlis artfully intertwines the pathos of loneliness with a subtle critique of the American political machine.             Joel Lingeman has been set adrift. 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Astutely observed and resonant with dark, sardonic undertones, Man About Town is an unforgettable novel about losing your way, your self-esteem and your security.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50342011240721,"sku":"CIN000715612XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50342025036049,"sku":"CIN000715612XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50998732292369,"sku":"NIN9780007156122","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/000715612X.jpg?v=1751163104"},{"product_id":"american-studies-book-mark-merlis-9780395689929","title":"American Studies","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt each step of this journey through American cultural history, Louis Menand has an original point to make: he explains the real significance of William James's nervous breakdown, and of the anti-Semitism in T. 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