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    The Five Books of (Robert) Moses
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    The Five Books of (Robert) Moses
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    The Five Books of (Robert) Moses
    Ebook2,096 pages23 hours

    The Five Books of (Robert) Moses

    By Arthur Nersesian

    5/5

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    About this ebook

    A dramatic, playful, brutal, sweeping, and always entertaining reimagining of New York City history, presaging today's political tyranny.

    "A postmodern masterwork that outdoes Pynchon in eccentricity--and electricity, with all its dazzling prose."
    --Kirkus Reviews, Starred review

    "A masterwork of modern speculative adventure."
    --Rain Taxi Review of Books

    "Mr. Nersesian's work is a tale of extremes. The finished product weighs more than 4 pounds. If he stacked all his manuscript pages since he began the book back in 1993 it would stand 6 feet tall, a shade taller than himself, Mr. Nersesian says...Main characters include a fictionalized Robert Moses, the powerful public official who reshaped New York City and its environs, and his brother Paul, an electrical engineer. A difficult relationship between the two has dire consequences. There are also pop-culture favorites from the period, including psychedelic evangelist Timothy Leary; urbanologist Jane Jacobs, and poet Allen Ginsberg. All are intended to show readers how the value of culture erodes in an isolated world."
    --Wall Street Journal

    "Arthur Nersesian is the Bard of Lower East Side Manhattan...He knows every street corner, every bar, store, book stall, and even the famous 100-year-old Russian shvitz on 10th Street. Nobody does it better. Not Don DeLillo, not Richard Price, and not William Burroughs."
    --On the Seawall

    "A sprawling, engrossing Pentateuch of an alternate New York City...Nersesian's binge-worthy odyssey is a singularly wild ride."
    --Publishers Weekly

    "Nersesian is one of my favorite New York authors; this tome is one to lose yourself in."
    --Bob Odenkirk, actor, Breaking Bad

    After a domestic terrorist unleashes a dirty bomb in Manhattan in 1970, making the borough uninhabitable, FBI agent Uli Sarkisian finds himself in a world that is suddenly unrecognizable as the United States is faced with its greatest immigration crisis ever: finding housing for millions of its own citizens. The federal government hastily retrofits an abandoned military installation in the Nevada desert, vast in size. Despite the government's best intentions, as the military pulls out of "Rescue City," the residents are increasingly left to their own devices, and tribal warfare fuses with democracy, forming a frightening evolution of the two-party system: the gangocracy. Years after the Manhattan cleanup was supposed to have been finished, Uli travels through this bizarre new New York City, where he is forced to reckon with his past, while desperately trying to get out alive.

    The Five Books of (Robert) Moses alternates between the outrageous present of Rescue City and earlier in the twentieth century, detailing the events leading up to the destruction of Manhattan. We simultaneously follow legendary urban planner Robert Moses through his early years and are introduced to his equally ambitious older brother Paul, a brilliant electrical engineer whose jealousy toward Robert and anger at the devastation caused by the man's "urban renewal" projects lead to a dire outcome.

    Arthur Nersesian's most important work to date examines the political chaos of today's world through the lens of the past. Fictional versions of real historical figures populate the pages, from major politicians and downtown drag queens to notorious revolutionaries and obscure poets.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAkashic Books
    Release dateJul 28, 2020
    ISBN9781617758386
    Author

    Arthur Nersesian

    Arthur Nersesian is an American novelist, playwright, and poet. He has written eight novels including The Fuck-Up, Chinese Takeout, Manhattan Loverboy, Suicide Casanova, Dogrun, and Unlubricated. He lives in New York City. 

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    Reviews for The Five Books of (Robert) Moses

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    • 5/5
      Thanks to Edelweiss for my ARC.Currently reading this gigantic slab of a book. It is thus far very strange. It opens up like a play with a cast of characters and goodness from right there you know you are in for a ride. The cast of characters read is very good too - totally gets the interest up right way. There are some strange things that are about to happen.The Five Books of Robert Moses is an alternate New York City History that features real characters but they are different because of the alternate history / reality that Arthru Nersesian has created. Themes of power and political intrigue and terrorism and city planning abound. The opening pages are deep weird and entirely engaging. Its a tome. Its a slab. I am currently traversing in the strange land that Arthur Nersesian has created over a storied many years process and it is so damn good!I will be reporting in when I have finished this tome to add more. 2020.05.23 Los Angeles, California.