{"product_id":"9780007157747","title":"Gift","description":"\u003cp\u003ePhillip has a lot on his mind. At home, in his unnecessarily large, excessively expensive house, he is attempting to become a Taoist \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003emaster of love with his wife, Alice, but his quest is forever being interrupted by the requests of his twin daughters — \"Can we have a pony, please?\"; \"We want to go to boarding school.\" At work, in his shed\/office at the bottom of the garden, between countless games of Minesweeper and FreeCell, Phillip is trying to pay the mortgage by writing the instruction manuals to Korean bread-making machines. And at parties where he is concerned that he is not taken seriously — he is variously mistaken as a waiter and a rhinoplastic surgeon — Phillip tells the world he is, in fact, a screenwriter. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbove all, Phillip is obsessing about his best friends, Barry and Sean. They are rich, more successful, and, most worryingly, they give great presents. Their gifts are always exquisite — a full set of Italian crockery, a handmade corkscrew from Venice; they give them on birthdays, at parties, and quite often for no reason whatsoever; and, increasingly, these presents break all bounds of generosity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey are gifts that hurt a man's pride. And they can never be matched. Which doesn't mean Phillip won't try. . . . \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47011087843568,"sku":"9780007157747","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780007157747_p0.jpg?v=1763616580","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780007157747","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}