{"product_id":"9781451604436","title":"Asphalt: A Novel","description":"Already a celebrated performance artist, vocalist, poet, playwright, and visionary, Carl Hancock Rux now presents a brilliant debut novel--a profound and lyrical portrait of urban life that will take its place among the classics of American literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRacine is a reserved young man, but his passion for music lights him up inside. He's just returned from Paris where he'd been invited by a friend to produce music, make recordings, and earn a living. The plan didn't quite pan out, and now he's back in New York, where fate, providence, or just plain chance leads him to a once-glorious brownstone turned into a squat by a few eccentric loners.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere's Manny, who wears sarongs and glitter but has no trouble attracting beautiful women, and Couchette, a gorgeous second-generation dancer whose mother has gone to Bali to live and bear a child with a man who built her a house in the midst of a rice paddy. What binds the characters is a deep sense of loss. Each is--like the city they live in--wounded and seeking healing and connection with and through the other housemates.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRux's poetic fiction blurs the lines between characters' dreams, memory, and reality. \u003ci\u003eAsphalt\u003c\/i\u003e--the name representing the essence of the city and the hard, layered, yet vulnerable sensibility of its inhabitants--is part post-modern parable, part urban mythology, and altogether relevant to contemporary reality. \u003ci\u003eAsphalt\u003c\/i\u003e is daring and unforgettable, marking the arrival of an original and astounding new voice in American literature.","brand":"Atria Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47161375391984,"sku":"9781451604436","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781451604436_p0.jpg?v=1763839690","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781451604436","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}