Lightning Rods - Softcover

Helen DeWitt

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908276290 ISBN 13: 9781908276292

Publisher: And Other Stories, 2013

Synopsis

'All I want is to be a success. That's all I ask.' Failing salesman Joe has a dream - or rather an outrageous fantasy. Because holed up in his trailer Joe comes up with a jaw-dropping plan that will stamp out sexual harassment in the workplace and make his fortune. Win-win? As he turns his life around, Lightning Rods takes us to the very top of corporate America.

About this title

About the Author

Helen DeWitt was born in Washington D.C. in 1957, but spent most of her childhood in South America. She has a B.A. and a D.Phil. in Classics from Oxford University. She worked in a collection of odd jobs while writing the highly acclaimed The Last Samurai, which was published in over twenty countries. Lightning Rods is her second novel to be published. DeWitt lives in Berlin.

Review

'A weird, generous, hilarious marvel.' Teju Cole, author of Open City. --------- 'The question at the heart of the novel: "What do you want?" morphs inexorably into its sinister twin: "How far are you prepared to go?" ... A masterclass in contained satirical exploration.' Sam Byers, TLS ---------'Uproariously funny.' Wall Street Journal ---------- 'DeWitt's wickedly smart satire deserves to be a classic.' Bookforum; "...an entirely unforgettable book. Voice and subject - a sort of bizarre cliche-driven management-speak, and workplace sex, respectively - are so perfectly attuned that it is entirely sui generis. ...it is extremely funny and also utterly serious. It is "sneaky, tendentious and deceptive" - in all the best ways." John Self - Asylum blog; 'Brilliant satire on yes-we-can culture' - The Independent; "an uproarious, razor-sharp novel." The Financial Times; "As it moves inexorably onwards with the cold, hard logic of the free market, Lightning Rods gets ever funnier and more bizarre, its targets loftier and its analysis more acute... Helen DeWitt's Lightning Rods finally takes its place alongside her brilliant debut The Last Samurai and her narrative-disassembling online novel Your Name Here to form the basis of an oeuvre that will, one hopes, be recognised in the future as one of the most interesting of its time." The Daily Telegraph

Edition details

• Publisher: And Other Stories
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908276290
• ISBN 13: 9781908276292
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 192