Who Is Rich

A provocative satire of love, sex, money, and politics that unfolds over four wild days in so-called "paradise"--the long-awaited first novel from the acclaimed author of Sam the Cat"I seriously, deeply love this book."--Michael Cunningham Every summer, a once-sort-of-famous cartoonist named Rich Fischer leaves his wife and two kids behind to teach a class at a weeklong arts conference in a charming New England beachside town. It's a place where, every year, students--nature poets and driftwood sculptors, widowed seniors, teenagers away from home for the first time--show up to study with an esteemed faculty made up of prizewinning playwrights, actors, and historians; drunkards and perverts; members of the cultural elite; unknown nobodies, midlist somebodies, and legitimate stars--a place where drum circles happen on the beach at midnight, clothing optional. Once more, Rich finds himself, in this seaside paradise, worrying about his family's nights without him and trying not to think about his book, now out of print, or his future as an illustrator at a glossy magazine about to go under, or his back taxes, or the shameless shenanigans of his colleagues at this summer make-out festival. He can't decide whether his own very real desire for love and human contact is going to rescue or destroy him. A warped and exhilarating tale of love and lust, Who Is Rich? goes far beyond to address deeper questions: of family, monogamy, the intoxicating beauty of children, and the challenging interdependence of two soulful, sensitive creatures in a confusing domestic alliance. Praise for Who Is Rich? "Who Is Rich? is a gem within the canon of infidelity literature [with] a wonderful narrator, lacerating and gentle. . . . Comic, wondrous, and sad."--The New Yorker "Like all great humorists, Klam is a sharp observer and he skewers his targets here with specificity and brio."--Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air "A brilliant rumination on the trap of cannibalizing one's life for art."--The Washington Post "One of those novels with the rare power to mesmerize. It's a dazzling meditation . . . told by an adulterous middle-aged schlub, full of sound and fury, and signifying, well, pretty much everything."--The Boston Globe "This portrait of midlife crisis is almost scarily astute."--People