Great American Plain : A Novel

by Sernovitz, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780312421076
• ISBN10: 0312421079
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-14
• Publisher: Picador

Summary

Edward Steinke, with all the ambition and steadfastness of his 24 years, believes in only one thing: Perfect Execution. This is the sales technique from the 1954 masterpiece Classic Sales: Theory and Technique. Unfortunately for Ed, he is selling the Brackett 180-X piano organ at the South Exhibition Hall of a large Midwestern State Fair, and Barry Steinke, Eds sullen younger brother and employee, is less than supportive. Between the brothers comes Leila Genet, imaginative but timid, frozen by life, who wanders the hall looking to escape into the stupid happiness of the Fair. Great American Plain is a novel about the Midwest, middle-class mores, success, and what it means to achieve.

Author Biography

Gary Sernovitz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and now lives in New York City. He is the author of Great American Plain and The Contrarians.

Table of Contents

"Remarkably original, remarkably well-sensed...[Sernovitz] can be provocative, amusing." --The New York Times

"A funny, humane story. . .[that] brings us bits of Midwestern ingenuity and humor. . . . Imaginative." --Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Part microscopic dissection of two hours in Leila’s, Barry's, and Ed's lives and part rant, Great American Plain...is notable for the way it pits these young brothers against one another." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[A] rock-solid first novel...Sernovitz's debut is a trenchant, often touching meditation upon isolation, despair and thwarted ambition." --Publishers Weekly