By the Thurber Prize-winner and author of the New York Times bestseller, Love Poems for Married People, Talk to Me is a wry yet tenderhearted novel for our age, and a sharp look at how one man's mistake can be what leads him back to his family--and to the man he used to be.
John Kenney is the New York Times-bestselling author of the humorous poetry collections Love Poems for Married People and Love Poems for People with Children, and the novel Truth in Advertising, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. He has worked for many years as a copywriter. He also has been a contributor to The New Yorker magazine since 1999. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Praise for Talk to Me
Entertainment Weekly, New & Notable
New York Post, Best Book of the Week
One of Southern Living's Best New Books of Winter 2019
“A widely respected network TV anchor falls from grace when a
vicious tirade is caught on camera, leaving him to revive his
professional reputation—and sense of purpose.”—Entertainment
Weekly
"With a publicly decimated career and a neglected family in his
wake, ex-TV anchor Ted Grayson finds himself taking a hard look at
the life he's led and the ways in which he can build a better life
in this perceptive new book by John Kenney.”—Southern Living
“Chronicle[s] our messy, modern lives.”—Los Angeles Times
“Kenney's dark humor evokes understanding....A surprise twist
reveals that hope and empathy can prevail.”—Shelf Awareness
“Timely, darkly humorous.... A smart, very 21st-century
story.”—AARP
“A blunt, hilariously nuanced but devastatingly emotional tale of
the age of internet and instant news....And yet, you’ll laugh
because Kenney is profane, with a biting, spit-out-your-coffee kind
of wit that underscores the pathos and irony of it all…Talk to Me
will make you think, and you won’t want to put it down.”—Marco
Eagle
“With depth and sympathy...[Kenney] saves a sweetly ironic twist
for a redemptive ending....A powerful and moving rendition of a
story we've been waiting to hear: what it's like to be the bad guy
in this ripped-from-the-headlines situation.”—Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)
“Kenney's bittersweet, darkly funny latest (after Truth in
Advertising) is equal parts family drama and commentary on
communication and news consumption in the age of instant
gratification. Kenney is supremely gifted at creating flawed, vivid
characters and capturing the wonder, ennui, and heartbreak of
marriage and parenthood, and the seemingly small moments that make
life precious.”—Publishers Weekly
“Kenney's timely satire succeeds with significant nuance...Most
winning, though, are Kenney's incisive considerations of
parenthood, familial love, and what actually matters when all is
seemingly lost.”—Booklist
“For all the fast-paced and knowing entertainment it provides, Talk
to Me may also serve as a useful antidote to rushed judgment when
the next celebrity scandal erupts.”—BookPage
“A superbly crafted story of a swaggering news anchor who disgraces
himself, facing shame and regret in an era when being human in
public is a bloodsport. Talk to Me is moving, full of punch and
sorrow – and told at the velocity of a man plummeting to
earth."—Tom Rachman, author of The Italian Teacher and The
Imperfectionists
“This high-voltage tale about a one-percenter learning to navigate
a vastly changed America will move you to reconsider what you're
ready to forgive. Timely, keenly observed and my favorite kind of
funny, John Kenney's lastest hits (superbly) home.”—Courtney Maum,
author of Touch and I Am Having So Much Fun Without You
“A poignant, and often hilarious, portrait of a man in the midst of
an extremely public downfall. Kenney, with humor and tenderness,
gives us Ted Grayson, TV anchor of a bygone era as he fumbles
through a changing media landscape and one terrible mistake and its
fallout. This is a very human, very timely story.”—Vanessa Manko,
author of The Invention of Exile
“This book is a tender father-daughter story, a cautionary tale
about forgetting what's important, and an indictment of our toxic
instant overreaction culture. Wrap it all together and what do you
get? A very funny and unexpectedly touching novel.”—Eddie Joyce,
author of Small Mercies
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