{"product_id":"9780393351101","title":"Desperate Characters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne of \u003cem\u003eThe Atlantic\u003c\/em\u003e's Great American Novels\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOne of the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/em\u003e' 25 Most Significant New York City Novels From the Last 100 Years\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A towering landmark of postwar Realism...A sustained work of prose so lucid and fine it seems less written than carved.\" -David Foster Wallace\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOtto and Sophie Bentwood live in a changing neighborhood in Brooklyn. Their stainless-steel kitchen is newly installed, and their Mercedes is parked curbside. After Sophie is bitten on the hand while trying to feed a stray, perhaps rabies-infected cat, a series of small and ominous disasters begin to plague the Bentwoods' lives, revealing the fault lines and fractures in a marriage-and a society-wrenching itself apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1970 to wide acclaim, \u003cem\u003eDesperate Characters\u003c\/em\u003e stands as one of the most dazzling and rigorous examples of the storyteller's craft in postwar American literature - a novel that, according to Irving Howe, ranks with \"\u003cem\u003eBilly Budd, The Great Gatsby, Miss Lonelyhearts\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSeize the Day\u003c\/em\u003e.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Norton, W. W. \u0026 Company, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43089289379901,"sku":"9780393351101","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0603\/0838\/9949\/files\/9780393351101_p0.jpg?v=1775560874","url":"https:\/\/www.tatteredcover.mom\/products\/9780393351101","provider":"Tattered Cover","version":"1.0","type":"link"}