{"product_id":"9781564786845","title":"Perfect Lives","description":"Raoul de Noget, an over-the-hill singer, and his younger pal Buddy ( The World s Greatest Piano Player ), find themselves in a small town in the Midwest. They become friends with the son and daughter of the local sheriff, and the four hatch a plan to do something that, if they are caught, will be seen as a crime, but if they are not, will be art: they will rob the town bank, take the money over the border into Indiana, and then return it all the next day. With this story at its center, Robert Ashley s inimitable Perfect Lives goes on to demolish every narrative convention in the book, taking in conflicting perspectives, texts, tones, narrators, and philosophies, roping in Midwestern ennui, pop songs, self-help tapes, heist movies, the lost city of Atlantis, dirty jokes, the history of American immigration, the preternatural flatness of Illinois, boogie-woogie, Giordano Bruno, and, finally, an elegy for thought itself. Perfect Lives is as much a summation of America as All in the Family or Paterson, and is every bit as essential.","brand":"Dalkey Archive Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47054685831408,"sku":"9781564786845","price":9.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781564786845_p0.jpg?v=1763787306","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781564786845","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}