Synopses & Reviews
What is the connection between breast enlargement and building renovation, yoga retreats and gourmet restaurants, cell phones and globalization?
Wakefield, both the title of Andrei Codrescu's hilariously absurd and brilliantly observed novel and the name of its alienated hero, examines these and other perplexities of the late twentieth century.
Picture Wakefield: He's divorced, lives alone in a comfortable, book-filled apartment in a sophisticated city. A motivational speaker, his talks leave audiences dispirited and anxious. But for this peculiar talent, he's nicely paid by corporate America, and he's in demand. Then one day the Devil shows up, walks right into Wakefield's tasteful living room, and says, "Time's up."
Just as literary Fausts have done for centuries, Wakefield makes a bargain with Satan, who as it turns out, is having his own existential crisis due to bureaucratic headaches and younger upstart demons in the afterworld. The Devil gives Wakefield a year to find an authentic life—or else it's curtains. So Wakefield travels across the country meeting New Age gurus, billionaire techno-geeks, global pioneers, gambling addicts and models who look like heroin addicts, venture capitalists, art collectors, rainforest protectors, and S and M strippers.
Andrei Codrescu brings his unique vision to the American character: our desire to change, renovate, and improve both our inner and outer worlds; to remodel not only our buildings but our bodies and minds.
Wakefield is an inspired novel—part metaphysical mystery, part travel adventure, part architectural romp—by turns funny and deadly serious.
Review
"One of our most prodigiously talented and magical writers, [Crodescu] manages to be brilliant and insightful, tough and seductive about American culture."
—New York Times Book Review New York Times Book Review
Review
"Perverse, romantic, profound, hilarious, cynical, moving, always surprising, and gorgeously written,
Wakefield is hell-bent comic poetry, and the best kind of fun: the sort that forever changes the way you look at the world, from picayune details to the meaning of life."
—Elizabeth McCracken
Synopsis
What is the connection between breast enlargement and building renovation, yoga retreats and gourmet restaurants, cell phones and globalization?
Wakefield, both the title of Andrei Codrescu's tragi-comic novel and the name of its alienated hero, poses these and other compelling perplexities of the modern age.
Just as literary Fausts have done for centuries, Wakefield makes a bargain with Satan, who, as it turns out, is having his own existential crisis, due to bureaucratic headaches and younger upstart demons in the afterworld. The Devil gives him a year to find an alternative life. So Wakefield, a motivational speaker and architecture enthusiast, crisscrosses the country, meeting New Age gurus, billionaire techno-geeks, global pioneers, gambling addicts and models who look like heroine addicts, venture capitalists, art collectors, rainforest protectors, S & M strippers . . . all while anxiously trying to discover his authentic life.
Part metaphysical mystery, part travel adventure, part architectural romp, Wakefield explores the late American century and, as his own "inner architecture" shifts, attempts to restore his world through a shocking act that baffles even his jaded Satanic Majesty. Andrei Codrescu gives us a novel of big ideas, hilariously absurd and brilliantly observed.
About the Author
A poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for NPRs All Things Considered, ANDREI CODRESCU is the MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University and the editor of the literary journal Exquisite Corpse.