{"product_id":"kamby-bolongo-mean-river-9780976717768","title":"Kamby Bolongo Mean River","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eKamby Bolongo Mean River\u003c\/i\u003e, Robert Lopez's hypnotic second novel, is the story of a young man whofinds himself confined and under observation, the subject of seemingly pointless tests. His only link to the outside world is a telephone that will not dial out. During the occasional calls he receives, usually wrong numbers, the narrator remembers his former life growing up in Injury, Alaska with his Mother, an often unemployed single parent, and his older brother, Charlie, a sometime boxer, sometime actor. Throughout the course of this extraordinary novel, the unwilling captive draws his life-story in stickfigures on the walls. From the difficulty of his birth, to his sickly childhood, to adventures with his brother, the narrator depicts his crazy life, which is at once fascinating and heartbreaking. The one memory that haunts him is that of watching a movie about slaves on television and how that one slave, the one for whom Kamby Bolongo Mean River meant freedom, would never relinquish the idea of returning home. Darkly hilarious with a crushing emotional impact, \u003ci\u003eKamby Bolongo Mean River\u003c\/i\u003e is a brilliant study of familial bonds and trauma, isolation and captivity, hope and hopelessness. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eKamby Bolongo Mean River\u003c\/i\u003e is an original and fearless fiction. It bears genetic traces of Beckett and Stein, but Robert Lopez's powerful cadences and bleak, joyful wit are all his own.\"\u003cb\u003e--Sam Lipsyte\u003c\/b\u003e, \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of\u003cb\u003e \u003ci\u003eHome Land \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"In \u003ci\u003eKamby Bolongo Mean River\u003c\/i\u003e damage and delusion walk hand in hand, and everything we think we know is gradually called into question. Reading like a cross between Samuel Beckett's 'The Calmative' and Gordon Lish's \u003ci\u003eDear Mr. Capote\u003c\/i\u003e, Robert Lopez's new novel gets under your skin and latches on.\"\u003cb\u003e--Brian Evenson\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Open Curtain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Dzanc Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780976717768\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 188\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.61lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.60d","brand":"Robert Lopez","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45211581677749,"sku":"9780976717768","price":14.41,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_1fa6d87f-ba6c-46e0-bba0-bfd2c30a5167.jpg?v=1742913344","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/kamby-bolongo-mean-river-9780976717768","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}