Lauren Grodstein & Stephen King; Algonquin Book Club Event, 3/3

January 30, 2012  •  Category: Author Events, Blog, Book Club

Get ready for our next Algonquin Book Club event coming up on March 3 at 7:00 p.m. EST!  Tune into the live webcast to hear Stephen King in conversation with Lauren Grodstein, author of A Friend of the Family. While online, you’ll be able to chat with other book club participants and submit questions to be answered during the event.  Make sure you take a look at the Algonquin Book club website for an excerpt from A Friend of the Family, a reading group guide, and more.

We have 10 copies of A Friend of the Family up for grabs to those who want to participate in the live webcast. Just leave a comment here or on our Facebook page to enter. Good luck!

About A Friend of the Family:

A skilled internist with a thriving practice in suburban New Jersey, Pete Dizinoff has a devoted wife, an impressive house, and a son, Alec, on whom he’s pinned all his hopes. But Pete never counted on the wild card: Laura, his best friend’s daughter—ten years older than Alec, irresistibly beautiful, with a past so shocking that it’s never spoken of …

* A Washington Post Best Book of the Year selection
* A New York Times Editors’ Choice
* A Bookpage Best Fiction of the Year selection

“Such an incisive diagnosis of aspirational America that someone should hand out copies at Little League games and ballet recitals . . . Horrifyingly plausible and deeply poignant, A Friend of the Family will leave you shaken and chastened–and grateful for the warning.” –The Washington Post

“Stunning . . . An unqualified success . . . Grodstein’s sentences are finely made and precisely fitted to one another and her story . . . If there’s any justice in the world, A Friend of the Family will be her breakout book . . . She has written a novel that will leave her reader sitting up, sifting the evidence in the dead of night.” The Boston Globe

“Grodstein, with one previous novel to her credit, has succeeded in shattering the image of suburban happiness. Her perceptive portrayals demonstrate the thinness of the veneer that separates bliss from gloom . . . [The story] is told with great understanding and sensitivity, gripping readers so that they will find the book hard to put down.” –The Chicago Tribune

“Involving at every level: character, plot, language. One of the more complicated portraits of a father’s love for his son we’ve ever read.” —McSweeney’s

“A persuasive indictment of a certain kind of privileged narrow-mindedness . . . in the best tradition of parenting gone catastrophically awry.” O: The Oprah Magazine

“Grodstein’s harsh, honest prose makes this haunting tale worthwhile.” –People

“Beautifully captures the ever striving angst of parents who will take any step to ensure their children’s lives are easier or better.” –USA Today

“Grodstein’s superb storytelling entices us to keep plunging deeper despite dread of an ominous undertow.” –Providence Journal

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33 comments on this post:
  1. amanda skelton says...

    Would love to participate in this. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.

    February 1, 2012@ 11:28 AM
  2. Drew Beebe says...

    As an author from New Jersey, this story intrigues me very much and I look forward to what seems to be a fascinating read. I only regret I haven’t come across this author and her work before!

    January 31, 2012@ 8:56 PM
  3. Thien-Kim says...

    I love chatting live with an author! It sounds like fun.

    January 30, 2012@ 7:52 PM
  4. Joyce says...

    I’m always interested in stories of ‘aspirational America’. i’ll have to check out this novel. looking forward to hearing Stephen King interview her.

    January 30, 2012@ 11:13 AM
  5. Kizzy says...

    I would love a copy of this book!

    January 30, 2012@ 10:47 AM
  6. Jessica says...

    Okay, I’m officially intrigued. Sounds like a great book!

    January 30, 2012@ 10:45 AM
  7. Chris Cander says...

    I can’t wait to read A Friend of the Family and am looking forward to the webcast!

    January 30, 2012@ 10:35 AM
  8. Alena Murguia says...

    Looks great. I’d love to read it.

    January 30, 2012@ 10:27 AM
  9. Leah Rhyne says...

    Ooh – sounds fun! I’m going to see Stephen King speak in Savannah in February – this would be a fun thing to read beforehand!! :)

    January 30, 2012@ 10:26 AM
  10. Tiana Trammell says...

    I will be looking forward to the webcast & would love to win a copy.

    January 30, 2012@ 10:25 AM

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