{"product_id":"the-subprimes-a-novel-isbn-9780062132437","title":"The Subprimes: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Set in a meticulously, terrifyingly imagined all-too-near future, \u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e is a potent cocktail of North American myth, equal parts John Steinbeck and Margaret Atwood, with a dash of benzene.” \u003c\/strong\u003e — \u003cstrong\u003eWilliam Gibson\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA wickedly funny dystopian parody set in a financially apocalyptic future America, from the critically acclaimed author of \u003cem\u003eTriburbia.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a future America that feels increasingly familiar, you are your credit score. Extreme wealth inequality has created a class of have-nothings: Subprimes. Their bad credit ratings make them unemployable. Jobless and without assets, they’ve walked out on mortgages, been foreclosed upon, or can no longer afford a fixed address. Fugitives who must keep moving to avoid arrest, they wander the globally warmed American wasteland searching for day labor and a place to park their battered SUVs for the night.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKarl Taro Greenfeld’s trenchant satire follows the fortunes of two families whose lives reflect this new dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-financially-fittest America. Desperate for work and food, a Subprime family has been forced to migrate east, hoping for a better life. They are soon joined in their odyssey by a writer and his family—slightly better off, yet falling fast. Eventually, they discover a small settlement of Subprimes who have begun an agrarian utopia built on a foreclosed exurb. Soon, though, the little stability they have is threatened when their land is targeted by job creators for shale oil extraction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut all is not lost. A hero emerges, a woman on a motorcycle—suspiciously lacking a credit score—who just may save the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e, Karl Taro Greenfeld turns his keen and unflinching eye to our country today—and where we may be headed. The result is a novel for the 99 percent: a darkly funny comedy about paradise lost and found, the value of credit, economic policy, and the meaning of family.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eIn a future America that feels increasingly familiar, you are your credit score. Extreme wealth inequality has created a class of have-nothings: Subprimes. Their bad credit ratings have lost them jobs and make them unemployable. Jobless and without assets, they have walked out on mortgages, been foreclosed upon, or can no longer afford a fixed address. Fugitives who must keep moving to avoid arrest, they wander the globally warmed American wasteland searching for day labor and a place to park their battered SUVs for the night.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKarl Taro Greenfeld’s trenchant satire follows the fortunes of two families whose lives reflect this new dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-financially-fittest America. Desperate for work and food, a Californian Subprime family has been forced to migrate east, hoping for a better life. They are soon joined in their odyssey by a writer and his family—slightly better off but falling fast. Eventually they discover a small settlement of Subprimes who have begun an agrarian utopia built on a foreclosed exurb. Soon, though, the little stability they have is threatened when their land is targeted by job creators for shale-oil extraction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut all is not lost. A hero emerges—a woman on a motorcycle—suspiciously lacking a credit score . . . who may just save the world.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e admirably—amazingly—superimposes all the populist instincts of \u003cem\u003eThe Grapes of Wrath\u003c\/em\u003e onto a dystopian future that is all too visible from our current moment. What grabbed me most was this novel’s beating heart, the compassion and understanding that Greenfeld shows as he gives us families fighting to keep one step ahead of all the lightning and forces of darkness that threaten to strike and engulf on every page.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCharles Bock\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“It’s hard for a fiction writer to know how to engage the present American moment. This powder-keg culture might seem like rich material, but dramatizing it is harder than it appears. Greenfeld is one of the writers we can watch trying to figure it out.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJonathan Dee, Harper's Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In Karl Taro Greenfeld’s novel \u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e, the division between rich and poor has opened into a chasm that’s funnier than it should be.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Karl Taro Greenfeld wants to skewer a certain political mindset and he goes at it with anger, wicked humor and verve. . . He might pummel you with the apocalypse, but he holds your interest with his humanity. Swift, yes, but John Steinbeck, also.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNPR\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greenfeld creates characters that breathe on the page . . . \u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e doesn’t just amuse, it haunts.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCaroline Leavitt, San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greenfeld has been addressing present-day America’s social ills in his writing for some time; here, he goes full Steinbeck on our impending national malaise.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Set in a meticulously, terrifyingly imagined all-too-near future, \u003ci\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/i\u003e is a potent cocktail of North American myth, equal parts John Steinbeck and Margaret Atwood, with a dash of benzene.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWilliam Gibson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A little Occupy, a little Ed Abbey, and a good deal of hope for solidarity in a screwed-up world—\u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e is a superhero story for the rest of us.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBill McKibben\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Sharply observed and engrossing, \u003ci\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/i\u003e depicts a future that is simultaneously absurd...and plausible. It would be too scary to read if it weren’t so entertaining.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEdan Lepucki\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Subprimes\u003c\/em\u003e holds up a funhouse-mirror version of ourselves and our era, when wealth and free-market fundamentalism threaten to flatten the great mass of humanity for the benefit of a few. Karl Taro Greenfeld has written a masterful, viciously funny satire of our times, one that we ignore at our peril.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBen Fountain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greenfeld has a tendency to lean toward parody in his satiric style, but here he employs enough authenticity to terrify, enough black humor to disarm the story’s inherent pessimism, and a surprising admiration for faith in its myriad forms.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With sharp and indicting fury and humor, profound compassion, deep respect, and literary prowess, Greenfeld has written a scorching, twenty-first-century \u003ci\u003eGrapes of Wrath\u003c\/i\u003e that perfectly captures our time’s suffering and potentially apocalyptic greed and folly.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist (starred review)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Greenfeld has produced a fascinating novel about life in the age of economic uncertainty. It’s a colorful tale of characters living on the edge combined with sharp social insights.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWalter Isaacson\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44888091820261,"sku":"NP9780062132437","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780062132437.jpg?v=1730228132","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-subprimes-a-novel-isbn-9780062132437","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}