A Thousand Benjamins
-
- $4.99
-
- $4.99
Publisher Description
After twenty years of marriage, Mary Jude has had enough of Benjamin. “A thousand Benjamins couldn’t make me happy,” she says. Lost in the monotony of daily life and the undertow of memories, Benjamin meets Kim, a woman eighteen years his junior who bears a sadness in her green eyes that is connected to a scar that runs from the base of her throat to her ribs. Slowly, Benjamin and Kim, who for entirely different reasons believe themselves beyond repair, begin to admit that this might actually be the time of their lives.
About the Author: Michael Kun is the author of the novels 'You Poor Monster', 'My Wife and My Dead Wife', and 'The Locklear Letters' as well as the short story collection 'Corrections to My Memoirs'. He is a trial lawyer in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife, Amy, and their daughter, Paige.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rarely is a first novel as graceful, polished and mature as this debut by a 27-year-old attorney. A wistful tale about two sad and lonely people, it resonates with bittersweet insights. Benjamin Sacks, 40, is a salesman with a tragic past and a recent divorce. Kimberly Cassella is a green-eyed 23-year-old waitress with a secret: a disfiguring heart-surgery scar. Their romance, set in Kun's native Baltimore, forces Benjamin to confront himself and his feelings about the people in his life; by the end of the book we feel great affection for this fragile man who hides his own light under a bushel of woes. Kun's writing has a tone of quiet humor tinged with despair, evoking J. D. Salinger's stories about the Glass family. (There are in fact several Salinger references.) Although most explicitly dramatic moments are related as part of Benjamin's past, the story has a quiet power that belies the absence of a twisting plot or shocking event. This novel deserves serious attention as the herald of a truly interesting new voice.
