First published in 1971. This novel is a blistering black comedy about gentrification and its discontents, a gritty picture of New York's collapse, and a prophetic send-up of middle class anxieties and ambitions. Lowell Lake's mission in life is to restore a beautiful crumbling mansion in a decaying and crime-ridden section of Brooklyn to its past grandeur; to dig up its lost history. This American boy wants to fix what's gone wrong with his life. He wants to make good, and he will even murder to do it. 232p.

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Bibliographic Details

Title

A Meaningful Life

Publisher

New York Review Books

Publication Date

2009

Language

English

ISBN 10

1590173007

ISBN 13

9781590173008

Binding

Paperback

Condition

New

Seller catalogs

FICTION-GENERAL

About this title

Synopsis

L.J. Davis’s 1971 novel, A Meaningful Life, is a blistering black comedy about the American quest for redemption through real estate and a gritty picture of New York City in collapse. Just out of college, Lowell Lake, the Western-born hero of Davis’s novel, heads to New York, where he plans to make it big as a writer. Instead he finds a job as a technical editor, at which he toils away while passion leaks out of his marriage to a nice Jewish girl. Then Lowell discovers a beautiful crumbling mansion in a crime-ridden section of Brooklyn, and against all advice, not to mention his wife’s will, sinks his every penny into buying it. He quits his job, moves in, and spends day and night on demolition and construction. At last he has a mission: he will dig up the lost history of his house; he will restore it to its past grandeur. He will make good on everything that’s gone wrong with his life, and he will even murder to do it.

About the Author

L. J. Davis was an author and prize-winning journalist who has contributed to The New York Times, Mother Jones, and Harper’s, among other publications.

Jonathan Lethem is the author of seven novels, including Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude. He lives in Brooklyn and in Maine.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

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