{"product_id":"9781572336452","title":"Run in the Fam'ly: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eRun in the Fam’ly\u003c\/i\u003e is an emotionally detailed exploration of a level of American society rarely seen in American fiction.  It focuses on the desperate lower class people called “inner city”, dramatized by Jake Robertson, his family, and his buddies.  Mr. McLaughlin employs his mastery of vernacular speech, his understanding of the street cultures of Chicago and Oakland, and his deeply \u003ci\u003ehuman\u003c\/i\u003e understanding, to explore the troubled and often violent bonds which hold together a black family.  \u003ci\u003eRun in the Fam’ly\u003c\/i\u003e is an exceptional work of fiction.”\u003cbr\u003e-James Alan McPherson, author of \u003ci\u003eElbow Room\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the Pulitzer Prize\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eRun in the Fam’ly\u003c\/i\u003e proves that John J. McLaughlin is a writer of exceptional talent and enormous vision.  His themes are important, his characters are convincing as well as affecting, and his capture of \u003ci\u003evoice dazzling\u003c\/i\u003e. His writing is infused with unsentimental compassion. I was very moved by this ambitious novel, a marvelous debut.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Bharati Mukherjee, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Middleman\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"John J. McLaughlin writes with great heart, humanity, and fierce compassion. \u003ci\u003eRun in the Fam’ly\u003c\/i\u003e is a sensitive and probing look at family and poverty, an ambitious debut novel that echoes Steinbeck's \u003ci\u003eThe Grapes of Wrath\u003c\/i\u003e in its social consciousness, empathy, and exploration of the bedrock that binds us beneath the chasms of circumstance.\"\u003cbr\u003e-Alexander Parsons, author of \u003ci\u003eLeaving Disneyland\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the AWP Novel Award\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the traditions of Ralph Ellison’s \u003ci\u003eInvisible Man\u003c\/i\u003e and William Styron’s \u003ci\u003eConfessions of Nat Turner\u003c\/i\u003e comes a bold debut novel by a striking new voice in American literature. Set in the Flatlands of Oakland, over the Memorial Day weekend at the end of the Reagan-Bush, Sr. era, \u003ci\u003eRun in the Fam’ly\u003c\/i\u003e is a gripping tale of struggle, faith, and redemption.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJake Robertson, a young Black man snared in the welfare-to-work rut, longs to make a better way for his family. Piecing together minimum-wage jobs and drawing—illegally— on public assistance simply to make ends meet, he hopes against hope for the chance to pull his girlfriend and asthmatic son out of grinding poverty. Upon his father’s release from prison, he is tempted with a crime that could solve his economic woes, but which he fears may fate him to the same life as his father—a man whose past is dark indeed, and about whom Jake has yet to learn one deep, terrible secret.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNarrated in a voice that captures both the raw edginess of the street and the complex rhythms of jazz, Run in the Fam’ly is a stunning work of literary ventriloquism and social analysis. Richly-detailed and filled with vivid characterizations, it plumbs the dark, mysterious depths of the city and the soul, recalling the novels of Dickens, Zola, and Baldwin. It is a father-son story for our time, a riveting human drama that will leave readers, on the book’s final page, both heartbroken and hopeful.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn J. McLaughlin was born in Texas, and raised in Virginia and Washington, DC, where he was educated in Catholic schools. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the University of Virginia. For many years he worked in direct service to homeless and incarcerated individuals in Los Angeles and Seattle. His writings have appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNational Catholic Reporter\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAmerica\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eHunger Mountain\u003c\/i\u003e, and he is the recipient of a Wagenheim Prize for his short fiction.  He lives with his wife and children in Seattle, where he directs Education Across Borders, a non-profit organization that serves indigent communities in the Dominican Republic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Tennessee Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47055639085296,"sku":"9781572336452","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781572336452_p0.jpg?v=1763795453","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781572336452","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}