May 2, 7:30 pm: Francine Prose with Mark Richard

Francine Prose is simply one of the best storytellers around. Reading Like A Writer is almost a bible for would-be novelists.  And part of that bible tells would-be writers to read great novels.  They should start with Francine Prose.  Her novels are diverse and often hilarious, and always provocative.  Take a favorite of ours, Blue Angel, a scathing satire on the whole of academia, from self-serving professors to overindulged and talentless students, to the politically correct, and sometimes even admirable administrative policies (such as sexual harassment policies) that hold sway over all at educational institutions.  A subsequent novel, A Changed Man, tests assumptions generally beyond the realm of satire: Nazi hunters, skinheads and nonprofit fundraisers, and turns them on their head. She creates experiences for her readers that are funny,  sometimes uncomfortable, and utterly engaging and wonderful.  The same applies to her new novel, My New American Life, in which she takes on the subject of Lulu, a young Albanian immigrant chasing the American Dream.  Lulu can’t believe her great good fortune as a nanny in an upper middle class New Jersey home.  She’s got it all: barely any work, good television, a totally undemanding employer, and perfectly lovely accommodations.  Trouble comes in the form of a big black Lexus SUV, in which her Albanian “brothers” wait for her, asking the impossible.  Prose’s comic tone enhances the deeper and profound exploration of what the elusive American Dream means for citizens and newcomers alike.

 

Mark Richard wonders about the American Dream too.  An award-winning short story writer, screenwriter and journalist, Richard’s new book, “House of Prayer No. 2: A Writer’s Journey Home” is the most inventive memoir we’ve come across in a long time.  The term “memoir” can’t do it justice; while recounting his odd and painful upbringing in the rural South, Richard throws his reader smack into his recitation, and we become part of the narrative.  We, his readers, almost become the subject of the book, and we therefore feel acutely his experiences, adventures and misadventures—as a patient in so many awful surgeries to correct bad hips as a child; with a former sharecropper, who worked with his father; with an unhappy and miserable mother, who was forever experimenting with new spiritual outlets; looking for Tom Waits across Europe for an Esquire interview; finding God; and so much more.

 

At the MGM Building, 10250 Constellation Blvd, Century City, directly across the street from the Westfield Century City Shopping Center.  We suggest that you grab a bite or a drink at the shopping center, leave your car there and walk directly across Constellation to the event. Tickets, $20, cash or checks only please.

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