My Life at First Try: A Novel

Budman, Mark

ISBN 10: 158243400X / ISBN 13: 9781582434001

Published by Counterpoint, 2008

About this Item

HARDCOVER Good - Bumped and creased book with tears to the extremities, but not affecting the text block, may have remainder mark or previous owner's name - GOOD Standard-sized.

Seller Inventory # M158243400XZ3

Bibliographic Details

• Title: My Life at First Try: A Novel
• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 158243400X
• ISBN 13: 9781582434001
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis

This semi–autobiographical debut novel chronicles the life of Alex, born in Siberia in 1950, and his dreams of becoming a writer and of meeting Annie, his distant American cousin. As a child, Alex observes a group of foreign tourists do something that non–drunk Soviet adults seldom do: they laugh. Alex yearns to become one of them—a free and happy foreigner. Those aspirations quickly fade as Alex begins to encounter the absurdities and constraints of living in a society where conformity is institutionalized. Hilarious and sometimes sobering, the book's short chapters chronicle making it through the army, mastering the English language, sex, and meeting the girl of his dreams. In 1980, Alex and his young family finally get the chance to move to America. There he realizes that he is finally a foreigner—not the happy foreigner of his dream, but an alien. Ultimately, Alex finds his own place in the world, despite the fact that having the right "to vote for an elephant or an ass" does not necessarily guarantee self–fulfillment.

About the Author

Mark Budman was born and raised in the former Soviet Union. Budman is the publisher of the flash fiction magazine Vestal Review, which didn’t prevent him from getting a patent for a device that allows scents to be transmitted by multimedia. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, and has two daughters and one inquisitive male cat.