{"product_id":"good-people-9781942658023","title":"Good People","description":"\"Lopez has the ability to give the reader whiplash with his unconventional and bewitching stories.\" --\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Robert Lopez is the master of deadpan dread, of the elliptical koan, of the sudden turn of language that reveals life to be so wonderfully absurd. Always with Lopez, the voice is all his--enchanting, surprising, at times devastating.\" --\u003cb\u003eJESS WALTER\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eBeautiful Ruins\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Robert Lopez's strange, incantatory, visionary stories reveal the mysteries behind the ordinary world. You lift your head from this book and it's as if a third eye has been opened.\" --\u003cb\u003eDAN CHAON\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eAwait Your Reply\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eStay Awake\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,\" claims Samuel Beckett. To this, we add: nothing is funnier than unhappiness with a heavy dose of amorality, as we learn from Robert Lopez's unforgettable \u003ci\u003eGood People\u003c\/i\u003e. In these twenty stories, a motley cast of obsessive, self-deluded outsiders narrate their darker moments, which include kidnapping, voyeurism, and psychic masochism. As their struggles give way to the black humor of life's unreason, the bleak merges with the oddly poetic, in a style as lean and resolute as Carver or Hemingway. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTreading the fine line between confession and self-justification, the absurd violence of threatened masculinity, and the perverse joy of neurosis, Lopez's stories reveal the compulsive suffering at the precarious core of our universal humanity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eRobert Lopez\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of two novels, \u003ci\u003ePart of the World\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eKamby Bolongo Mean River\u003c\/i\u003e, and the story collection \u003ci\u003eAsunder\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Brooklyn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bellevue Literary Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/12\/2016\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781942658023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 192\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.40h x 5.00w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/09\/2015 pg. 33\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eForeword\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/26\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/01\/2016 pg. 32\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Robert Lopez","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39893368373429,"sku":"9781942658023","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_2b368da7-3ab8-45ad-a37b-0453b2b8f31e.jpg?v=1619538867","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/good-people-9781942658023","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}