The War Against Boredom
Short Stories, Riffs, Insanities
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
“Great fun! An engaging collection in the finest tradition of Douglas Coupland and Timothy McSweeney.”—Ben Schott, author of Schott’s Original Miscellany
Hilarious and wildly inventive, The War Against Boredom by newyorker.com humor contributor Seth Kaufman is a welcomed assault on the mind-numbing effects of the modern world. Reverse-engineering obsessions with Big Data, the Internet, movies, coffee shops, pot, spying, rock stars, relationships and sex scandals, Kaufman morphs reality into comedy with 21 short stories and satirical columns. It's a must-read for fans of Kaufman's acclaimed novel The King of Pain and anyone who likes adventurous humor writing.
Notable skirmishes in The War Against Boredom
• A husband hires a business consultant to help improve his marriage.
• An assistant engineer recalls working with Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury and a llama.
• An insurance actuary becomes a star by decoding the odds for the Academy Awards.
• A caustic National Security Administration advice columnist answers questions and exposes employees.
• Cheech and Chong reunite over a golden hookah.
• A hardcore techie conducts a bizarre old school search for love in “Segway in Overdrive.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This satirical follow-up to The King of Pain brings back Rick Salter, a salty, world-weary reality TV show producer looking to save face in the aftermath of his previous, much-maligned program, which involved torturing its contestants. Rick has just married his fourth wife, Marta, an undocumented immigrant who was his housekeeper for 21 years, and who saved him from an embarrassing "accident" involving a home entertainment system. When Marta's sons, who own a taco restaurant, are targeted in a shooting, Rick is inspired to launch a reality show called Nuns with Guns. The premise: four nuns compete against one another to see which one can gather the most guns from American firearm owners. Rick becomes the unlikely voice of a televised revolution, as the nun posse, led by Sister Rosemarie, inspires hordes of Americans to relinquish their weapons. Gun enthusiasts and the NRA, meanwhile, incite an equally fervent backlash. Rick is a charismatic antihero bolstered by credible side characters, and in the midst of Kaufman's sardonic humor, there rings out an earnest outcry for gun reform. (BookLife)
