Sam Lipsyte discusses his new book “The Ask” at Labyrinth Books
Posted on 05. Apr, 2010 by PNN Editor in News
On Tuesday, April 13th at 6PM Sam Lipsyte will be reading from his new novel “The Ask” at Labyrinth Books in Princeton.
Milo Burke, a development officer at a third-tier university, has “not been developing”: after a run-in with a well-connected undergrad, he finds himself among the burgeoning class of the newly unemployed. Grasping after odd jobs to support his wife and child, Milo is offered one last chance by his former employer: he must reel in a a potential donor — a major “ask” — who, mysteriously, has requested Milo’s involvement. But it turns out that the ask is Milo’s sinister college classmate Purdy Stuart. And the “give” won’t come cheap. Probing many themes including work, war, sex, class, child rearing, romantic comedies, Benjamin Franklin, and cooking shows on death row, The Ask is a burst of genius by a young American master who has already demonstrated that the truly provocative and important fictions are often the funniest ones.
Sam Lipsyte is the author of the story collection Venus Drive (named one of the top 25 books of its year by The Voice) and two novels: The Subject Steve and Home Land, which was a NYTimes Notable Book and received the Believer Book Award.