Raw: A Love Story - Softcover

Haskell Smith, Mark

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802122019 ISBN 13: 9780802122018

Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat, 2013

Synopsis

"Only an imaginative satirist can outpace the world's absurdity, but Mark Haskell Smith manages it with Raw, a super-fun, super-wild, and sneakily thoughtful take on American literary and entertainment excess."—Steve Hely, author of How I Became a Famous Novelist

Sepp Gregory, a reality-TV hunk and one of People magazine's "sexiest men alive," is on tour to promote his debut novel. Not that Sepp's actually read the book—he doesn't have to, he lived it! And everyone just wants him to take his shirt off.

The book has hit the bestseller list and is even getting rave reviews from serious critics. Aside from Harriet Post, that is. One of the blogosphere's most respected literary minds, Harriet fears that the novel's reception means the end of civilization is upon us. Determined to pen an expose on the publishing industry, Harriet hijacks the book tour and uncovers the ghostwriter. Reality and "reality" collide, and a tragic accident sends Sepp and Harriet off on a sex-fueled roadtrip through the southwest. Raw: A Love Story is Mark Haskell Smith at his raucous best, dangerously sexy and wickedly funny.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Haskell Smith is the author of five novels, Moist, Delicious, Salty, Baked, and Raw, and the non-fiction Heart of Dankness: Underground Botanists, Outlaw Farmers, and the Race for the Cannabis Cup. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Vulture, National Post, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Smith is an award-winning screenwriter and assistant professor in the MFA program for Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts at the University of California, Riverside, Palm Desert Graduate Center. He lives in Los Angeles. He likes Mexican food.

Reviews

In this thoroughly enjoyable outing, consummate satirist Haskell Smith (Baked, 2010) pokes delirious fun at modern-day book publishing and reality TV. As the novel opens, reality-TV “star” Sepp Gregory is on tour to promote his debut novel, Totally Reality. (He didn’t write the book, of course; the chap who penned the prose is supererudite Curtis, who told Sepp’s sordid life story so eloquently that even the New York Times gave it a rave review.) But ghostwriting isn’t a crime, right? It is for blogosphere luminary Harriet, who considers Sepp’s book one of the signs of literary Armageddon. She’s determined to “out” the ghostwriter, even if it means sabotaging Sepp’s book tour. Which is exactly what she does. Before she knows it, Harriet, a bookish babe in her own right, finds herself on the road (and between the sheets) with Sepp. (An unlikely pair if there ever was one, Harriet “flashes” her intellect, while Sepp “flashes” his abs.) By turns racy and profound, Haskell Smith writes at Mach speed about what passes for culture in today’s often unreal world. --Allison Block

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0802122019
• ISBN 13: 9780802122018
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352