{"product_id":"banal-nightmare-9780593730355","title":"Banal Nightmare","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA ferocious novel by one of the boldest voices in American fiction and the author of \u003ci\u003eThe New Me, \u003c\/i\u003e the \"definitive work of millennial literature\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Butler has crafted a novel in which every character proves to be completely, uniquely crazy. Her perverse sense of humor should be studied and celebrated.\"--David Sedaris \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eMargaret Anne \"Moddie\" Yance had just returned to her native land in the Midwestern town of X, to mingle with the friends of her youth, to get back in touch with her roots, and to recover from a stressful decade of living in the city in a small apartment with a man she now believed to be a megalomaniac or perhaps a covert narcissist.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSo begins Halle Butler's sadistically precise and hilarious \u003ci\u003eBanal Nightmare, \u003c\/i\u003e which follows Moddie as she abruptly ends her long-term relationship and moves back to her hometown, throwing herself at the mercy of her old friends as they, all suddenly tipping toward middle age, go to parties, size each other up, obsess over past slights, dream of wild triumphs, and indulge in elaborate revenge fantasies. When her friend Pam invites a mysterious East Coast artist to take up a winter residency at the local university, Moddie has no choice but to confront the demons of her past and grapple with the reality of what her life has become. As the day of reckoning approaches, friends will become enemies, enemies will become mortal enemies, and old loyalties will be tested to their extreme. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eBanal Nightmare\u003c\/i\u003e is filled with complicated characters who will dazzle you in their rendering just as often as they will infuriate you with their decisions. Halle Butler\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003esingularly captures the volatile, angry, aggrieved, surreal, and entirely disorienting atmosphere of the modern era.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/16\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593730355\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/06\/2024\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Halle Butler","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44174480277685,"sku":"9780593730355","price":23.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_b50b8e0c-50d5-4e9f-bd83-40053250166b.jpg?v=1716301744","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/banal-nightmare-9780593730355","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}