{"product_id":"asphalt-isbn-9780743474016","title":"Asphalt","description":"Already a celebrated performance artist, vocalist, poet, playwright, and visionary, Carl Hancock Rux now presents a brilliant debut novel--a profound and lyrical portrait of urban life that will take its place among the classics of American literature. \u003cbr\u003e Racine is a reserved young man, but his passion for music lights him up inside. He's just returned from Paris where he'd been invited by a friend to produce music, make recordings, and earn a living. The plan didn't quite pan out, and now he's back in New York, where fate, providence, or just plain chance leads him to a once-glorious brownstone turned into a squat by a few eccentric loners. \u003cbr\u003e There's Manny, who wears sarongs and glitter but has no trouble attracting beautiful women, and Couchette, a gorgeous second-generation dancer whose mother has gone to Bali to live and bear a child with a man who built her a house in the midst of a rice paddy. What binds the characters is a deep sense of loss. Each is--like the city they live in--wounded and seeking healing and connection with and through the other housemates. \u003cbr\u003e Rux's poetic fiction blurs the lines between characters' dreams, memory, and reality. \u003ci\u003eAsphalt\u003c\/i\u003e--the name representing the essence of the city and the hard, layered, yet vulnerable sensibility of its inhabitants--is part post-modern parable, part urban mythology, and altogether relevant to contemporary reality. \u003ci\u003eAsphalt\u003c\/i\u003e is daring and unforgettable, marking the arrival of an original and astounding new voice in American literature.","brand":"Washington Square Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48682589782245,"sku":"NP9780743474016","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/O_0da509d8-2224-437d-acfd-ee3cf55587bd.jpg?v=1775168336","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/asphalt-isbn-9780743474016","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}