Waiting For The Man: A Novel

(Paperback, Reprint)

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Description

Joe, a 36-year-old advertising copywriter for a slick New York company, feels disillusioned with his life. He starts dreaming of a mysterious man, seeing him on the street, and hearing his voice. Joe decides to listen to the Man and so he waits on his stoop, day and night, for instructions. Waiting for the Man is a compelling and visceral story about the struggle to find something more in life, told in two interwoven threads - Joe at the beginning of his journey in Manhattan, and at the end of it as he finds new purpose on a ranch in Montana under the endless sky.

Reviews

"Waiting for the Man is captivating, aggravating, enlightening and redemptive." --Winnipeg Free Press
"Waiting for the Man is observant and clever, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Basu toys with his readers, pushing us away to point out the distance at which we hold the characters and stories that populate our pages and screens, and reminds us there is always more to the story." -- Katia Grubisic in Montreal Review of Books
"Although this is the author's debut novel, his experience at shorter forms (Squishy) shows; fans of his 140-character Twisters on Twitter will be pleased to know that the author's talents are on display in this novel." -- Publishers Weekly
"Perhaps the dark subtext to this entertaining novel is that movement is impossible, even for many seemingly privileged boys ... Waiting for the Man hides a chilling truth under its light-hearted surface: the American Dream is a trap." -- Quill & Quire
"That it's hard to put down is a credit to Basu's perfect sentences and clear sense of direction ... I want to say that it's reminiscent of Hemingway, but in a way that sounds nothing like him. It is, however, the perfect style for this novel, a retelling of the American Dream that Hemingway would never have understood." -- National Post

Author Bio

Arjun Basu is a writer and editor. In 2008, he published Squishy, a collection of short stories that was shortlisted for the ReLit Prize. His stories have been published in many literary journals, including Matrix and Joyland. Arjun lives in Montreal, Quebec.