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Description edit
Jennifer Egan’s spellbinding new work circles Bennie Salazar, an aging former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, but the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives... read more
Characters/People edit
- Bennie Salazar: Record producer going through some serious rich male existential crisis. We find out more about his rise to the top and his past in the San Francisco punk scene.
- Sasha Grady Blake: Bennie's right hand woman. She is a kleptomaniac.
- Lou Kline: A record producer in the late 1970s
- Alex: Has encounters with Sasha at the beginning of the book and Bennie at the end
- Stephanie Jones Salazar: Bennie Salazars ex-wife. Once a big time PR lady.
- Rolph: Lou's son, and favorite, idealistic, quiet, attuned to the natural world.
- Lulu Peale: Daughter of Dolly (La Doll).
- Scotty Hausmann: A childhood friend of Benny's, who plays the slide guitar. They were both in love with the same girl but Scotty ended up with her.
- Bosco: Former great musician, now fat, aging and ailing. Wants Stephanie and Jules to document his "comeback".
- Charlie: Lou's daughter Charlene, but prefers to be called Charlie. She works to get Lou's attention by flirting with some of the black dancers.
- Jocelyn: Member of Bennie's punk group ca. 1979 who first becomes involved with Lou.
- Jules Jones: Stephanie's brother that moves in with her and Bennie in Crandale. He was on track to become a journalist and goes to prison for kidnapping Kitty Jackson
- Chris: Chris is Bennie's 9 year old son who lives with his mother in a posh, leafy suburb.
- Mindy: Lou's girlfriend that he takes to Africa, and she is a graduate student at Berkley. She later becomes his wife and mother of two of his six children.
- Albert: An Englishman that drives Lou and his crew on the safari. He is Ramsey's second in command.
- Drew Blake: Sasha's college boyfriend at NYU originally from Wisconsin. Becomes a doctor.
- Rebecca: Alex' wife and Cara-Ann's mother.
- Alice: Beautiful member of Bennie's punk group, who Bennie loves.
- Rhea: Freckled member of Bennie's punk rock group, Jocelyn's friend.
- Kitty Jackson: An actress who was once interviewed by Jules.
- Ted Hollander: Sasha's unclue that searched for her in Naples. He's an art professor.
- Susan Hollander: Ted's wife. She's in real estate.
- Dolly Peale: Known as La Doll, she is Stephanie's boss in the PR world. The mother of Lulu.
- Kathy: Stephanie's faux friend in Crandale, NY, whom she plays tennis with; is married to Clay "Cardboard", a racist snob.
- Lincoln Blake: One of Sasha's children. He is slightly autistic.
- Robert Freeman Jr.: Known as Rob. He loved Sasha.
- Lizzie: Sasha's college roommate and friend.
- Beth: Sasha's mom.
- Noreen: Bennie and Stephanie's neighbor in Crandale. She is not socially accepted, and people think she is crazy.
- Cora: Lou's travel agent that is on the African trip
- Ramsey: An old Army buddy of Lou's that is starting up a safari company in Africa.
- Lars: A Swedish guy that played a flute who Sasha worked for while in Naples.
- Chronos: A bassist for the Mad Hatters, one of Lou's bands, and took part in a safari trip in Kenya with Lou.
- Janet Green: Jules' girlfriend who dumps him before he met Kitty.
- Coz: Sasha's therapist
- Bix: A college friend of Drew and Sasha's. He is dating Lizzie. Her parents wouldn't approve because he is black.
- Hammer: Sasha's step-father
- Alison Blake: Sasha's daughter. Sasha calls her "Ally".
- Rebecca: Alex' wife she's working on a PhD
- Cara-Ann: Alex and Rebecca's daugther
- Collette: a music producer who works for Bennie; a minor character
- Natasha: Russian girlfriend of Alex's friend Zeus
- Wade: Add a description of this character.
- Andy Grady
- Abby
- James
- Joe Rees
- Fiona
- Louise
- Louisa
- Dean
- Sammy
- Dr. Beet
- Alfred
- Joel
- Bill Duff
- Olivia
- Miss Peale
- Atticus Levi
- Dave
- Marty
- Nixon: Kitty Jackson's horse.
- Chandra
- Mother Superior: Nun from Bennie's past whose encounter is later the inspiration for a song.
- Mildred
- Robert Jr: One of Sasha's friends during her college years; used to play football.
Quotes edit
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““The pause makes you think the song will end. And then the song isn’t really over, so you’re relieved. But then the song does actually end, because every song ends, obviously, and THAT. TIME. THE. END. IS. FOR. REAL.””
Sasha Grady -
“Sasha no longer took anything from stores--their cold, inert goods didn't tempt her. Only from people.”
(author) -
“He drew back and looked at his son. The baby he and Stephanie had nuzzled and kissed--now this painful, mysterious presence.”
author -
“Kissing Mother Superior is my favorite," Sasha said. "We've gotta find a way to use that one.”
Sasha Grady -
“No one is waiting for me. In this story, I'm the girl no one is waiting for. Usually the girl is fat, but my problem is more rare, which is freckles: I look like someone threw handfuls of mud at my face.”
Rhea -
“Everybody sounds stoned, because they're e-mailing people the whole time they're talking to you."”
-
“I can't tell if she's actually real, or if she's stopped caring if she's real or not. Or is not caring what makes a person real?”
Rhea -
“If I had a view like this to look down on every day, I would have the energy and inspiration to conquer the world. The trouble is, when you most need such a view, no one gives it to you.”
Scotty Hausmann -
“I deposited my fish on the glass coffee table next to the magazines and settled into a black leather couch.”
Scotty Hausmann -
“It may be that a crowd at a particular moment in history creates the object to justify its gathering, as it did at the first Human Be-In and Monterey Pop and Woodstock”
First Sentence edit
It began the usual way, in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel.
Table of Contents edit
A
1 - Found Objects
2 - The Gold Cure
3 - Ask Me If I Care
4 - Safari
I. Grass
II. Hills
III. Sand
5 - You (Plural)
6 - X's and O's
B
7 - A to B
I
II
III
IV
V
8 - Selling the General
9 - Forty-Minute Lunch: Kitty Jackson Opens Up About Love, Fame, and Nixon!
10 - Out of Body
11 - Good-bye, My Love
12 - Great Rock and Roll Pauses by Alison Blake
13 - Pure Language
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Amazon Book Club Picks. (authoritative list)
This book is in New York Times 10 Best Books of 2010. (authoritative list)
This book is in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 2011 of 85 in Pulitzer Prize Winners - Fiction. (authoritative list)
This book is in American Library Association Notable Books for Adults. (authoritative list)
This book is in NPR Summer Books 2010. (authoritative list)
This book is in Time Magazine's Top 10 Fiction Books of 2010. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Jennifer Egan (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-0--307-59283-5
Page Count: 274
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Country: USA
Publication Date: 2010
ISBN: 978-0--307-59283-5
Page Count: 274
Awards edit
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2010: Fiction)
- National Book Critics Circle Award (2010: Fiction)
- Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (2010: Top Ten)
- Orange Prize for Fiction (Finalist, 2011, Longlist)
- Pulitzer Prize (2011: Fiction)
- PEN/Faulkner Award (Finalist, 2011: Fiction)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PS3555.G292 V57 2010
- Dewey: 813.54
Subjects edit
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Jennifer Egan's Website
- OpenCulture: Video - Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Talks Writing @Google
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