{"product_id":"such-good-work-9781501195662","title":"Such Good Work","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom Johannes Lichtman comes a wisely comic debut novel \u003cb\u003eabout a teacher whose efforts to stay sober land him in Sweden, but the refugee crisis forces a very different kind of reckoning.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou don't have to be perfect to do good... \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJonas Anderson wants a fresh start. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHe's made plenty of bad decisions in his life, and at age twenty-eight he's been fired from yet another teaching position after assigning homework like, \u003ci\u003eAttend a stranger's funeral and write about it\u003c\/i\u003e. But, he's sure a move to Sweden, the country of his mother's birth, will be just the thing to kick-start a new and improved--and newly sober--Jonas. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen he arrives in Malmo in 2015, the city is struggling with the influx of tens of thousands of Middle Eastern refugees. Driven by an existential need to \"do good,\" Jonas begins volunteering with an organization that teaches Swedish to young migrants. The connections he makes there, and one student in particular, might send him down the right path toward fulfillment--if he could just get out of his own way. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eSuch Good Work \u003c\/i\u003eis, indeed, a bit Jonas-like: it's wary of affectation or grandstanding; it works small, as if from a sense of modesty, a reluctance to presume; it cuts sincerity with the driest of humor\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e). In his debut, Lichtman, \"a remarkable thinker and social satirist\" (\u003ci\u003eThe \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e), spins a darkly comic story, brought to life with wry observations and searing questions about our modern world, and told with equal measures of grace and wit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/03\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781501195662\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.90h x 5.30w x 1.00d","brand":"Johannes Lichtman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42095529787573,"sku":"9781501195662","price":14.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_2f657fcd-11e7-47e0-83f8-a04734adf2c6.jpg?v=1651587133","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/such-good-work-9781501195662","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}