{"product_id":"9780994343154","title":"Three Dashes Bitters","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Tim Schmidt returns to New Orleans to attend his sister’s debutante ball, he finds that nothing has changed during his three-year hiatus in the orderly sanctuary of Boston.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eHe is still in love with Jane, a hard-drinking iconoclast, too well bred to join the ranks of the Generation X slackers, yet unable to accept the standards of her high society upbringing. Happily, it seems Jane might still harbor feelings for him. \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eBut over drinks at The Columns Hotel, things get messy, and Tim’s grand return to the city of his birth soon unravels—the very sort of thing that inspired Tim to leave NOLA in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eWith only twenty-four hours to figure out what to do (which has never been Tim’s forte), this former philosophy student finds unsolicited advice from members of a new leisure class. There is Milton, Tim’s college roommate turned Marxist revolutionary, a Falstaffian gent bent on overthrowing the government. Two young Arizona “brothers from another mother.” A disillusioned German exchange student who has abandoned the study of physics for the French Quarter social scene. And an Italian fellow who is a self-proclaimed master in the art of \u003cem\u003eamore\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003ePicking up were Walker Percy (\u003cem\u003eThe Moviegoer\u003c\/em\u003e) and John Kennedy Toole (\u003cem\u003eA Confederacy of Dunces\u003c\/em\u003e) left off, this wild romp presents New Orleans as an eternal city, whose characters exceed the vicissitudes of fortune, functioning instead as a universal canvas upon which individuals must struggle to carve out their existence. This is not the NOLA of Hurricane Katrina, political corruption, crime, tourism, or the home of jazz. Rather, Simmons adds to the literary œuvre of this Southern city, and \u003cem\u003eThree Dashes Bitters\u003c\/em\u003e captures a New Orleans defined only in the individuals we encounter—not the easy stereotypes that make individuality impossible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ethica Projects Pty Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47076925669616,"sku":"9780994343154","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780994343154_p0.jpg?v=1763900751","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780994343154","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}