The narrator of this dark comedy by Adam Haslett is a mentally ill seventy-three-year-old. The proud, delusional man won’t acknowledge the problem, refuses to take his medication, and is in severe financial difficulty. After a road trip to visit his son Graham, the only family member who will see him, he comes up with an idea for a revolutionary new bicycle that will make both of them rich. Graham, who is secretly battling the same illness as his father, is left shattered by the visit. Themes include mental illness, pride, estrangement, loneliness, obsession, paranoia, sexuality, embarrassment, fear.
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