THE ALTRUISTS: A NOVEL
Book ID/图书代码： 11701217C00003
English Summary/英文概要： Set in the last decades of the previous century and the first of this one, THE ALTRUISTS is a perceptive and acute study of a contemporary family in crisis, trying to understand and engage with itself.
Arthur Alter is in trouble. A middling professor at a Midwestern college, he can’t afford his mortgage, he’s exasperated his much-younger girlfriend, and his kids won’t speak to him. And then there’s the money--the small fortune his late wife Francine kept secret, which she bequeathed directly to his children.
Those children are Ethan, a sensitive, sexually-confused recluse living off his mother’s money on a choice plot of Brooklyn real estate; and Maggie, a would-be do-gooder trying to fashion herself a noble life of self-imposed poverty. On the verge of losing the family home, Arthur invites his children back to St. Louis under the guise of a reconciliation. But in doing so, he unwittingly unleashes a Pandora’s Box of age-old resentments and long-buried memories--memories that center largely on Francine, the matriarch whose life may hold the key to keeping them together.
Spanning Brooklyn, St. Louis, Boston, and a small desert outpost in Zimbabwe, THE ALTRUISTS is a darkly funny (and ultimately tender) family saga in the vein of Jonathan Franzen and Jeffrey Eugenides, with shades of Philip Roth and Zadie Smith. It’s a novel about money, privilege, politics, campus culture, dating, talk therapy, rural sanitation, infidelity, kink, the American beer industry, and what it means to be a "good person."
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 一部充满活力和洞察力的小说，讲述了一位父亲企图赢回他孩子遗产的故事。
亚瑟•奥特有麻烦了。他是中西部一所大学的二流教授，他付不起房贷，他激怒了比他年轻得多的女友，他的孩子也不和他说话。还有那笔钱——他已故的妻子弗朗辛(Francine)保守秘密的那笔不少钱，她直接把它留给了他的孩子们。
这些孩子是伊桑，一个靠他母亲的钱生活在布鲁克林的精选公寓的焦虑的隐士;还有玛吉，一个想要做善事的人，她想让自己过一种自我强加的贫穷的高贵生活。在濒临失去栖身之所的情况下，亚瑟打着和解的幌子，邀请他的孩子们回到圣路易斯。但在这样做的过程中，他无意中释放出了一个潘多拉魔盒，里面装着由来已久的怨恨和埋藏已久的记忆——这些记忆围绕着女家长弗朗辛(Francine)，她的生活可能是维系这两种情感的关键
《利他主义者》横跨纽约、巴黎、波士顿、圣路易斯和津巴布韦的一个沙漠前站，是乔纳森•弗兰岑(Jonathan Franzen)和杰弗里•尤金尼德斯(Jeffrey Eugenides)传统的黑色幽默(最终是温情的)家族传奇，色调类似菲利普•罗斯(Philip Roth)和扎迪•史密斯(Zadie Smith)。这是一部关于金钱、特权、政治、校园文化、约会、谈话治疗、农村(环境)卫生、不忠、纠结、美国啤酒工业以及做一个“好人”的意味着什么的小说。(Sandy)
Awards/获奖情况：Advance praise for THE ALTRUISTS:
“It’s frankly a little unfair that a writer so young should be this talented. Not only does Andrew Ridker have a sharp eye for the absurdities and contradictions of 21st century America, but he also delivers a heartfelt and compassionate story about a family shattered by loss, now finding their awkward way back to each other. I cared so much for these people, their traumas and betrayals, their public humiliations and private failures. The Altruists is a truly remarkable debut.”—Nathan Hill, author of The Nix
“This book will inspire readers to sacrifice comfort and find meaning—Turn off (the comfort), Tune out (the babble of groupthink), Drop in (to duty and responsibility)—or else! Thank you to Andrew Ridker for this excellent debut novel. It is culturally significant and a sign of the times.” —Atticus Lish, author of Preparation for the Next Life
“Andrew Ridker has a lot to say about the way we live now. The result is one of those super-brilliant, super-funny novels one enjoys in the manner of a squirrel with an especially delicious acorn. I found myself trying to get out of every activity and responsibility just to come back to this novel.”–Gary Shteyngart, author of Super Sad True Love Story
"The Altruists is a superb exploration of isolation, loneliness, and infidelity--in the broadest, most interesting application of the word. Every chapter is crafted with the care of a perfect short story, and the characters within it are so fully formed I could almost feel their breathing. How tremendous (and a little annoying) that a novel this striking could come from a writer so young." —Kristen Radtke, author of IMAGINE WANTING ONLY THIS
About the Author/作者介绍： 一部充满活力和洞察力的小说，讲述了一位父亲企图赢回他孩子遗产的故事。
亚瑟•奥特有麻烦了。他是中西部一所大学的二流教授，他付不起房贷，他激怒了比他年轻得多的女友，他的孩子也不和他说话。还有那笔钱——他已故的妻子弗朗辛(Francine)保守秘密的那笔不少钱，她直接把它留给了他的孩子们。
这些孩子是伊桑，一个靠他母亲的钱生活在布鲁克林的精选公寓的焦虑的隐士;还有玛吉，一个想要做善事的人，她想让自己过一种自我强加的贫穷的高贵生活。在濒临失去栖身之所的情况下，亚瑟打着和解的幌子，邀请他的孩子们回到圣路易斯。但在这样做的过程中，他无意中释放出了一个潘多拉魔盒，里面装着由来已久的怨恨和埋藏已久的记忆——这些记忆围绕着女家长弗朗辛(Francine)，她的生活可能是维系这两种情感的关键
《利他主义者》横跨纽约、巴黎、波士顿、圣路易斯和津巴布韦的一个沙漠前站，是乔纳森•弗兰岑(Jonathan Franzen)和杰弗里•尤金尼德斯(Jeffrey Eugenides)传统的黑色幽默(最终是温情的)家族传奇，色调类似菲利普•罗斯(Philip Roth)和扎迪•史密斯(Zadie Smith)。这是一部关于金钱、特权、政治、校园文化、约会、谈话治疗、农村(环境)卫生、不忠、纠结、美国啤酒工业以及做一个“好人”的意味着什么的小说。(Sandy)
Andrew Ridker grew up outside of Boston. He attended Washington University in St. Louis, spent a year at Oxford, and now lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. In 2014 he edited Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics, a poetry anthology featuring work by Robert Pinsky, Jorie Graham, and John Ashbery. He has written about Kanye West for Guernica and profiled drag queens for St. Louis Magazine. THE ALTRUISTS is his first novel.
The author of this vibrant and extremely accomplished first novel is 25 years old and works at Knopf, where he worked with Carol Janeway for a long time.
Format:
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：The American rights have been sold to Allison Lorentzen at Viking Penguin US in a pre-empt and the UK rights to Michal Shavit at Jonathan Cape.
Czech Republic:Zlin,Denmark:Gyldendal,France: Payot Rivages,Germany: Penguin Verlag, Holland: Ambo Anthos, Hungary: Gabo,Israel: Am Oved
Italy: Guanda, Norway: Cappellen Damm, Poland: Marginesy, Portugal: Quetzal, Russia: Azbooka-Atticus, Spain: Random House, Sweden: Brombergs, Turkey: Teas Press/Hep Kitap
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