Fervently recounting both the comic delights and the frightening horrors of a life in which he feels – always – that he is not like all the rest, Zinsky survives the worst and relishes the best with idiosyncratic style, as his heartbreak turns into self-awareness and his suicidal ideation into self-regard. A vivid evocation of the all-consuming nature of lust and ambition – and the forces that drive them – Zinsky the Obscure is a novel of extraordinary zeal, range, and power.
contents
Book the First: Twenty Years of Solitude
1. Exordium 2. If You Ponder Suicide at Age Nine, You’re Not Like All the Rest 3. The Boy Who Lost His Hair Prior to Puberty 4. The Spring Break Not Seen On Television 5. Charlene Chiu and the Fanshawe Redemption
6. Birth of a Family 7. Otherwise Known as Shelagh the Great 8. Goodbye, Townsend Avenue 9. Crime & Punishment 10. Family Reunion
Book the Third: Zinsky Gets His Chance
11. Zinsky the Waiter, Zinsky the Thief, Zinsky the Romantic 12. Hey Diana 13. Diana’s Acceptance 14. Inevitable Comparisons 15. Death in Albuquerque 16. The Leech 17. Truth & Consequences 18. Thanksgiving with the Kennedys
Book the Fourth: One Child Left Behind
19. A Reunion and a Breakup 20. Ariel’s New Guide to Life 21. The World is a Wedding 22. Dust Specks and Minor Miracles 23. Sons & Liars 24. Funeral for My Friends
