The Broom of the System

Published when Wallace was just twenty-four years old, The Broom of the System stunned critics and marked the emergence of an extraordinary new talent. At the center of this outlandishly funny, fiercely intelligent novel is the bewitching heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio. Lenoreas great-grandmother has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau, and boss, Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous, and her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psycho- babble, Auden, and the King James Bible. Ingenious and entertaining, this debut from one of the most innovative writers of his generation brilliantly explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.

The mysterious disappearance of her great-grandmother and 25 other elderly residents of a nursing home only compounds the small catastrophes that threaten to elevate Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman's search for love and self-determination to new heights of spasmodic weirdness.

David Foster Wallace (1962-2008) is the award-winning author of several short story and essay collections, and two novels, including the bestselling cult classic Infinite Jest.

Duke Riley is the owner of East River Tattoo in Brooklyn. Acclaimed for his unique interpretations of the urban landscape, he has participated in numerous art exhibitions around the world.