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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Last Acts
Reader Score
70%
70% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 5 reviews on
A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE - Winner of the 2025 New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award - National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree - "An astonishing baller of a book...pitch perfect in voice (Tony Soprano meets Samuel Beckett)...Unputdownable." --Mary Karr - "Hilarious, exceptional." --The New York Times Book Review A riotous, irreverent yet big-hearted debut novel about a broke father-son duo who go all-in on some of America's deadliest obsessions. Even though his firearms store is failing, things are looking up for David Rizzo. His son, Nick, has just recovered after a near-fatal overdose, which means one thing: Rizzo can use Nick's resurrection to create the most compelling television commercial for a gun emporium the world has ever seen. After all, this is America, Rizzo tells himself. Surely anything is possible. But the relationship between father and son is fragile, mired in mutual disappointment. And when the pair embarks on their scheme to avoid bankruptcy, a high-stakes crash of hijinks, hope, and disaster ensues. Featuring a cast of unforgettable characters and "honest, high-wire virtuosic writing" (George Saunders) this razor-sharp social satire "pays tribute to gallows humorists like Sam Lipsyte, Gary Shteyngart, Jonathan Tropper, and Jonathan Franzen" (Chicago Review of Books).
Book Details
- Publisher: Scribner Book Company
- Publish Date: Jan 23rd, 2024
- Pages: 224
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.50in - 5.50in - 1.00in - 0.70lb
- EAN: 9781982196745
- Categories: • Literary• Family Life - General• Small Town & Rural
About the Author
Sammartino, Alexander: - Alexander Sammartino was born in Rhode Island and grew up in Arizona. He majored in philosophy and English at Syracuse University, which is also where he received his MFA in fiction. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and cat. Last Acts is his first novel.
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"What a taut, energetic, tender, and wholly original debut novel Alexander Sammartino has written. He knows something deep about the dark heart of America that somehow doesn't stop him from writing about it with genuine, goofy love. Somewhere, Denis Johnson and Saul Bellow are smiling because their lineage--that of honest, highwire, virtuosic writing that summons up the world with all its charms and hazards, has found a worthy heir."--George Saunders, author of Liberation Day "Sammartino's promising debut offers keen insights into gun violence, drug addiction, and capitalism along with a skewering satire of social media. His attention to craft is evident on every page (he studied under George Saunders). A sobering tale full of heart."--Booklist "Acerbic... [Last Acts] satisfies on multiple levels."--Publisher's Weekly "Last Acts announces a brilliant new voice. Sammartino is precise, funny and will break your heart all at once. Not to be missed."--Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain Gang All Stars "It's hard to believe Last Acts is a first novel. Sammartino's brilliance and originality shine out from every page of this masterful debut."--Jenny Offill, author of Weather "Alexander Sammartino has penned an astonishing baller of a book so pitch perfect in voice (Tony Soprano meets Samuel Beckett) I predict it'll be the sleeper hit of the year. A gun-store-owning dad tries to save his unmoored dope fiend son, the latter literally back from the dead. But some canyon-sized gap stretches between the floundering pair. Yes it's a send up of American masculinity circling the drain. Or is it? This funny as hell tale moved me to the core. Unputdownable."--Mary Karr, author of Lit and Tropic of Squalor "A sad, hilarious father-son redemption story that touches every American third rail: guns, drugs, religion . . . Sammartino is heir to the 20th century American masters: DeLillo, Pynchon, McCarthy, Wallace. He's as smart and as funny and as electric a stylist and as spot-on about the dark societal carnival we're all doing our best to survive."--Jonathan Dee, author of Sugar Street "Last Acts is an astonishingly strong debut, big hearted and hilarious. I swear every sentence in this novel is glorious. Sammartino writes like a millennial Don DeLillo... Rizzo is a singular and great American character: a tender-but-obtuse father, a confidence man with no confidence, a charismatic loser with a voice you can't help but love."--Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward