New York Times Bestseller "C.K. has written something close to a great American novel."
—Book and Film Globe A suspenseful and often harrowing yet hopeful odyssey through rural
America follows a young drifter in an indifferent world in this debut novel by comedian Louis
C.K. When Ingram is forced by overwhelming poverty and spiritual exhaustion to walk away from
his home he leaves behind a neglectful childhood on a dirt farm on a dead-end road. With no
family no resources and no practical understanding of the world Ingram’s only compass is the
daily fight to survive and the narrow dream of one day owning a truck. A picaresque novel
set against the backdrop of working-class Texas Ingram invites readers to see the world
through the eyes of a child who drifts through a tough American landscape of corn farms and oil
fields guided by diner waitresses migrant workers and criminals trying to make sense of a
world that doesn’t care about him anymore than a jungle or desert does for the creatures that
toil to survive within them. The reality Ingram discovers is wild and cruel but filled with
unexpected wonders. Though this young boy faces tornadoes explosions thieves and rampant
violence his curiosity humor and resilience never dull. As he begins to push against the
tide of social and natural bad luck that seems to almost chase him Ingram begins to forge
himself into an individual with agency and the ability and right to choose his own moves even
if he’s not always prepared for the consequences. Through Ingram’s journey he begins to
come to terms with a forgotten tragedy from his past that shapes the way he understands himself
his family and his own place in the world.
