{"product_id":"fulfillment-isbn-9780593802861","title":"Fulfillment","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eGroundskeeping \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a searing family drama set in Kentucky where the homecoming of two half-brothers—successful Joel with his restless wife Alice, and struggling Emmett—ignites a clash of ambitions and desires, exposing raw truths about class, privilege, and happiness in the American South.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFulfillment\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of two half brothers—Joel, a successful academic and author, whose marriage is in deep trouble, and his younger sibling, Emmett, paralyzed by indecision and working in a shipping warehouse—who find themselves at their family home in Kentucky and upend each other’s lives in devastating ways.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween them is Alice, Joel's wife, a wry, passionate young woman whose dream of a small farm feels unattainable, and whose longing for a more authentic life collides with Emmett's hunger for connection and desire to escape a sense of burgeoning failure. As the chemistry between them escalates, the family is plunged into a violent crucible, each character brought to the precipice of immutable catastrophe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIncisive, poignant, gorgeously crafted, Lee Cole's haunting novel about class, privilege, brotherhood, and the American South asks whether people can change, and at what cost, and what it takes to build a life of fulfillment and meaning.\"Ominous encounters, star-crossed lovers, rifts between red and blue America, flawless prose: \u003ci\u003eFulfillment\u003c\/i\u003e expands on themes and technique laid down in \u003ci\u003eGroundskeeping\u003c\/i\u003e. . . . Is our nation too big to fail, or is it failing because we’re too big, a vastness corralled into social networks? This is the urgent question Cole poses, his brilliant book more than a tale of a small-town adultery and its consequences. . . . Don’t look now, but a colossal literary career is sneaking in under the radar.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Compulsively readable. . . . As well as illicit sex, the plot involves a drugs heist, crank calls and a loaded gun, adding a crackle of jeopardy to Cole’s gift for fizzy dialogue and killer comic timing as he gently takes the temperature of modern America. Strongly recommended.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Cole has an astute ear for the verbal racket of modern life. . . . \u003ci\u003eFulfillment\u003c\/i\u003e is engaging, thoughtful and bang up-to-date.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e (London)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A riveting tale about hope and desire.\"\u003cb\u003e —\u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Cole mixes the angst and insecurity of class and poverty to craft a Molotov cocktail he lobs with exacting precision.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist \u003c\/i\u003e(starred review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An evocative tale of ambition, lust, and sibling rivalry in western Kentucky. . . . [Cole] writes gorgeously descriptive sentences.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Cole perfectly captures a particular kind of charming yet frustrating character: a slow-to-launch, aspiring Southern writer who makes ill-considered decisions that throw his life into disarray. Clearly, this is Cole's wheelhouse.\" \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eLEE COLE was born and grew up in rural Kentucky. He is the author of the novel \u003ci\u003eGroundskeeping.\u003c\/i\u003e A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, he now lives in Philadelphia.","brand":"Knopf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300303982821,"sku":"NP9780593802861","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780593802861.jpg?v=1767727777","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/fulfillment-isbn-9780593802861","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}