The altruists : a novel /
A vibrant and perceptive novel about a father's plot to win back his children's inheritance. Arthur Alter is in trouble. A middling professor at a Midwestern college, he can't afford his mortgage, he's exasperated his much-younger girlfriend, and his kids won't speak to him....
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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[New York, New York] :
Viking,
[2019]
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| Summary: | A vibrant and perceptive novel about a father's plot to win back his children's inheritance. Arthur Alter is in trouble. A middling professor at a Midwestern college, he can't afford his mortgage, he's exasperated his much-younger girlfriend, and his kids won't speak to him. And then there's the money--the small fortune his late wife Francine kept secret, which she bequeathed directly to his children. Those children are Ethan, an anxious recluse living off his mother's money on a choice plot of Brooklyn real estate; and Maggie, a would-be do-gooder trying to fashion herself a noble life of self-imposed poverty. On the verge of losing the family home, Arthur invites his children back to St. Louis under the guise of a reconciliation. But in doing so, he unwittingly unleashes a Pandora's box of age-old resentments and long-buried memories--memories that orbit Francine, the matriarch whose life may hold the key to keeping them together. Spanning New York, Paris, Boston, St. Louis, and a small desert outpost in Zimbabwe, The Altruists is a darkly funny (and ultimately tender) family saga in the tradition of Jonathan Franzen and Jeffrey Eugenides, with shades of Philip Roth and Zadie Smith. It's a novel about money, privilege, politics, campus culture, dating, talk therapy, rural sanitation, infidelity, kink, the American beer industry, and what it means to be a "good person." Arthur Alter, a middling professor at a Midwestern college,can't afford his mortgage, he's exasperated his much-younger girlfriend, and his kids won't speak to him. And then there's the money-- the small fortune his late wife Francine kept secret, which she bequeathed directly to his children: Ethan, an anxious recluse, and Maggie, a would-be do-gooder. On the verge of losing the family home, Arthur invites his children back to St. Louis under the guise of a reconciliation-- and unwittingly unleashes age-old resentments and long-buried memories. -- adapted from jacket |
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| Item Description: | Place of publication from publisher's website. |
| Physical Description: | 308 pages ; 24 cm |
| ISBN: | 9780525522713 0525522719 |