Good Kings Bad Kings
A Novel
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- € 12,99
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- € 12,99
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This PEN/Bellwether Prize–winning novel set in a state-run facility for disabled teenagers is “saucy, brutally funny, gritty, profane, poignant and real” (The Kansas City Star).
Playwright and activist Susan Nussbaum’s powerful debut novel invites us into the lives of a group of typical teenagers—alienated, funny, yearning for autonomy—except that they live in an institution for juveniles with disabilities. This unfamiliar, isolated landscape is much the same as the world outside: friendships are forged, trust is built, love affairs are kindled, and rules are broken. But those who call it home have little or no control over their fate. Good Kings Bad Kings challenges our definitions of what it means to be disabled in a story told with remarkable authenticity and in voices that resound with humor and spirit.
“This is fiction at its best . . . Simply and breathtakingly honest . . . A stunning accomplishment.” —Barbara Kingsolver
“Nussbaum’s dramatist skills translate powerfully into fiction as she gives voices to an infatuating cast of characters . . . This is unquestionably an authentic, galvanizing, and righteous novel.” —Booklist (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Playwright Nussbaum s debut novel the 2012 winner of Barbara Kingsolver s PEN/Bellwether Prize takes readers behind the scenes at a facility for disabled teens. Woven from short individual chapters in first-person narrative, at first it reads like a series of darkly funny, often frightening character sketches. As the book progresses, however, the darker side of the facility s management and desire for profit emerges. From Yessenia (transferred from Juvie), to Mia (keeping a horrifying secret), to Ricky and Joanne (devoted and determined to make a positive difference), to Michelle (working for the management company and slowly growing aware of what her job entails), these individuals are complicated, funny, heartbreaking, and inspiring. How they are pushed beyond breaking points and emerge into the wider world is captivating. Nussbaum s obvious gifts as a playwright make this read more like a performance piece than a novel. Some of the cadence and vernacular choices can distract, as can the use of the present tense, but the book offers insight into the lives of those hidden away from the public, and it will have readers questioning the system s choices and the public s complacency. This is a stirring debut from a determined writer and activist.
