"At the forefront of all the serious new fiction released this year." - Midwest Book Review
Got reservations? Noncommittal Bob does - about his life. And his wife has left him. And he's broke. Party!
School's over, and Bob has landed an acting job at a major repertory theatre on the California coast. But instead of relishing his success, Bob is preoccupied with doubts about his talent, his life choices and his future.
But hey - four months of solid work is something, right? Maybe, just maybe, Bob can turn his life around over the summer - and perhaps be invited to keep his job in the fall. But it may take a resolve and a determination that Bob does not, at this point in his life, have an abundance of:
"Who am I to think I can do this? My marriage is failing, my tenure in the Ivory Tower of Education is over and my MFA degree is really a great credential for a career in fast food. What does it matter to the deep fryer guy that I've done the definitive Macbeth at age 24?"
Life to Bob: Make something happen. October is bearing down fast.
"McKeon times these beats impeccably; he writes with a kinetic energy that propels Bob's darkest and funniest moments at the same pace, making for both a fully realized narrator and a compulsive read."- Kirkus Reviews
"This superb work of fiction peels back the layers of [Bob's] carefully guarded soul for readers to explore. It is a masterful examination of a young man struggling to balance chronic low self-esteem with a performer's perpetual need for approval."- Publishers Daily Reviews
"McKeon's ability to blend drama of the stage with real-life events packs a powerful punch for readers, leaving them stinging long after the book has been set down. The author's balancing act between absurd humor and existential philosophy makes his story a paragon of Bukowski's dirty realism."- The BookLife Prize
About the Author: Kevin McKeon is the author of several screenplays and has directed the films Colton and How They Attack Us. He has adapted several works of literature for the stage, including David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons and Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. This is his first novel.
