The Astral is a huge rose-colored old pile of an apartment building in the gentrifying neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For decades it was the happy home (or so he thought) of the poet Harry Quirk and his wife, Luz, a nurse, and of their two children: Karina, now a fervent freegan, and Hector, now in the clutches of a cultish Christian community. But Luz has found (and destroyed) some poems of Harry’s that ignite her long-simmering suspicions of infidelity, and he’s been summarily kicked out. He now has to reckon with the consequence of his literary, marital, financial, and parental failures (and perhaps others) and find his way forward—and back into Luz’s good graces.
Harry Quirk is, in short, a loser, living small and low in the water. But touched by Kate Christensen’s novelistic grace and acute perception, his floundering attempts to reach higher ground and forge a new life for himself become funny, bittersweet, and terrifically moving. She knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of men—and she turns them into literary art of the highest order.
This book is getting so much buzz! I'm really excited to be a part of this giveaway. I keep seeing it mentioned in newspapers and being added to those lists of books that you must read for the summer. It also made it on Oprah's Summer Reading List. I have my copy firmly in hand, now here's a chance for you to win a copy.
The wonderful people at Doubleday have made this possible so we're going to follow their rules: US addresses only, no P.O. Boxes.
Just leave a comment below telling me one book on your summer reading list, make sure your email address is in your comment. If you would like an additional entry, you can spread the word about this contest on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc. Just leave the link in a separate comment. I will randomly pick winners on June 24.
