Driver's Education
A Novel
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- $18.99
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of The People We Hate at the Wedding, Grant Ginder's second novel, “a sensitively observed story about storytelling” (The New Yorker), takes readers on a 21st century road trip that will "appeal to fans of Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon" (Booklist).
Finn McPhee edits a reality TV show. His father, Colin, is a screenwriter. Both are adept at spinning fictions, a skill passed down to them by McPhee patriarch Alistair, whose wild yarns never failed to capture Finn’s youthful imagination—even as they cast a fragile veil over a past marked by devastating loss, unbearable love, and an incessant longing for a life whose heroic proportions could measure up to the breathtakingly vivid color of Alistair’s dreams. As Finn embarks on a road trip across America with his best friend, Randal, and a three-legged cat named Mrs. Dalloway in a last-chance bid to make his grandfather’s dreams come true, he will finally learn that the truth, though not always stranger than fiction, can sometimes make the best story of all.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alistair McPhee asks his grandson Finn to bring his beloved '56 Chevy Bel Air, named after his long-dead wife, Lucy, from New York to San Francisco so he can have one last drive before he dies. Finn, a TV reality show editor and a fabulist like his grandfather, re-enacts his grandfather's exploits of daring, adventure, and romance by following a map of Alistair's cross-country trips with his friend Randal and the ornery cat, Mrs. Dalloway, along for the ride. Alistair, meanwhile, is looked after by his son, Finn's father, Colin, a screenwriter whose 15 minutes have faded, and whose memories of Alistair are not as rosy as Finn's. Alternating with the journey are Colin's explorations of childhood moments bonding with his father, the movies, his mother's tragic death, and other pieces of his past. Part fairy tale, part picaresque, part coming-of-age tale, this second novel from Ginder (after This Is How It Starts) blends reality and the imagined in a sentimental brew about the stories that bind generations. Though the ambitious structure is undercut by the indistinct voices of Colin and Finn, Ginder has crafted a memorable and amusing story about storytelling with enough irony to cut through the syrup of sentiment.
