Kapitoil: A Novel - Softcover

Wayne, Teddy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061873217 ISBN 13: 9780061873218

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2010

Synopsis

"Sometimes you do not truly observe something until you study it in reverse," writes Karim Issar upon arrival to New York City from Qatar in 1999. Fluent in numbers, logic, and business jargon yet often baffled by human connection, the young financial wizard soon creates a computer program named Kapitoil that predicts oil futures and reaps record profits for his company.

At first an introspective loner adrift in New York's social scenes, he anchors himself to his legendary boss Derek Schrub and Rebecca, a sensitive, disillusioned colleague who may understand him better than he does himself. Her influence, and his father's disapproval of Karim's Americanization, cause him to question the moral implications of Kapitoil, moving him toward a decision that will determine his future, his firm's, and to whom—and where—his loyalties lie.

About this title

About the Author:

Teddy Wayne is a graduate of Harvard and Washington University in St. Louis. He is the the recipient of an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Time, Esquire, McSweeney's, and elsewhere. He lives in New York.

Review:

“KAPITOIL is one of those uncommon novels that really is novel. Though the storytelling is conventional, it is satisfyingly so, and the book’s estimable young narrator is a human type whom nobody until Wayne was ever inspired to write about.” (Jonathan Franzen, bestselling author of The Corrections)

“[A] brilliant book. Karim Issar is one of the freshest, funniest heroes I’ve come across in a long time... In its honesty, humor, intelligence, and hard-won wisdom, Kapitoil is ‘Karim-esque’ to the nth degree, and that is a very good way to be.” (Ben Fountain, bestselling author of Brief Encounters with Che Guevara)

“What a wonderful character Karim is―the hapless, hilarious, math-obsessed hero of Teddy Wayne’s first novel. KAPITOIL is a delight. Who knew oil futures could be such fun?” (Joshua Henkin, author of SWIMMING ACROSS THE HUDSON and MATRIMONY)

“Teddy Wayne’s debut novel is an innovative and incisive meditation on the wages of corporate greed, the fundamental darkness of its vision lit by the author’s great comic intelligence and wit.” (Kathryn Davis, author of The Thin Place, Hell: A Novel, and Versailles)

“This wonderfully assured debut novel, at once poignant, insightful, and funny...is a delight. Best of all, however, is simply being inside Karim’s head as he ponders Jackson Pollock’s paintings, baseball, programming, and the mysteries of love and life in the U.S. ” (Booklist (starred review))

“[A] strong and heartfelt debut novel... It’s a slick first novel that beautifully captures a time that, in retrospect, seems tragically naïve.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review))

“[An] affecting, timely, and frequently hilarious debut novel.” (Vanity Fair)

“Brilliant...The beauty of Kapitoil, Wayne’s debut novel, is that it tackles broad and serious themes with humor and an eye for detail. Karim’s carefully articulated voice is a thing of beauty....Teddy Wayne = a major literary talent.” (Houston Chronicle)

“The novel is wise and humble, funny and sweet, so incredibly touching.” (MarieClaire.com)

“A book ripe with beauty and potential....Karim Issar is a character readers will remember, and readers had better prepare themselves to remember the name of Teddy Wayne as well. It’s one they’ll be hearing again and again in the months following Kapitoil’s release.” (Bomb Magazine)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0061873217
• ISBN 13: 9780061873218
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 295