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Joshua Furst / Revolutionaries
August 13, 2019 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm PDT
Booksmith welcomes Joshua Furst (The Sabotage Café) to the store for his second novel, Revolutionaries, a long, strange trip through the heart of the sixties and beyond as seen through the eyes of the revolution’s poster child. Please join us!
> Review in The New York Times
Fred is the sole offspring of Lenny Snyder, the famous (or notorious) pied piper of the counterculture, and in middle age he hates being reminded of it. But neither can he ignore any longer his psychedelically bizarre childhood. From infancy, for instance, he was called Freedom (in fact his given name) not only by those who should have known him but also by members of the burgeoning movement led by his father, who happily exploited having his wife and his toddling, then walking and talking, and finally observant son in tow. Thanks to Fred, this charismatic, brilliant, volatile ringmaster is as captivating in these pages as he was to his devoted disciples back then. We watch Lenny organize hippies and intellectuals, stage magnificent stunts, and gradually lose his magnetic confidence and leading role as the sixties start slipping away. He demands loyalty but gives none back in return, a man who preaches love but treats his family with almost reflexive cruelty. And Fred remembers all of it–the chaos, the spite, the affection. A kaleidoscopic saga, this novel is at once a profound allegory for America–where we’ve been and where we’re going–and a deeply intimate portrait of a father and son who define our times.
Joshua Furst is the author of Short People and The Sabotage Café, as well as several plays that have been produced in New York, where for a number of years wrote and directed plays in the downtown theater scene. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he’s the recipient of a Michener Fellowship, the Chicago Tribune‘s Nelson Algren Award, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Ledig House. He lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University. Author photo by Michael Lionstar.
This event is free and all ages.
RSVP appreciated but not required.
If you cannot attend the event but would like to request a signed copy of Revolutionaries, order below and put your request in the comments field; to request a signed copy of any of Joshua’s other books, do the same via this link.