Book cover of A Special Providence

Book description

From one of the most important writers of the twentieth century, the acclaimed author of Revolutionary Road, comes the story of a mother who struggles with her own demons while her son goes to fight in Europe, hoping to become his own man.

"Like Breakfast At Tiffany's spliced with All…

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Special Providence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

My favorite novelist. Laureate of Broken People. Criminally underappreciated. In 1987, 15 years before I was lucky enough to be published, I wrote to Yates after I got his address from his daughter Monica, who was dating my fellow stand-up comic friend, some unknown guy named Larry David. In the letter, I revealed that I had just stolen his out-of-print 1969 novel about a post-WWII mother and homecoming son from the NYC Public Library and that it would always be my favorite book of his because it was the only one I had not yet read. He wrote back that…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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