Waxwings

Authors: Raban, Jonathan
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
BISAC/Subject: FIC045000, FIC019000, FIC048000
ISBN: 9780307430144, Related ISBNs: 0307430146, 0375410082, 0375709053, 9780307430144, 9780375410086
Classification: Fiction
Number of pages: 288,
Audience: General/trade
Synopsis: Jonathan Raban’s powerful novel is set in Seattle in 1999, at the height of its infatuation with the virtual. It’s a place that attracts immigrants. One of these is Tom Janeway, a bookish Hungarian-born Englishman who makes his living commenting on American mores on NPR. Another, who calls himself Chick, is a frenetically industrious illegal alien from China who makes his living any way he can.

Through a series of extraordinary but chillingly plausible events, the paths of these newcomers converge. Tom is uprooted from his marriage and must learn to father his endearing eight-year old son part-time. Chick claws his way up from exploited to exploiter. Meanwhile Seattle is troubled by rioting anarchists, vanishing children, and the discovery of an al-Qaeda operative; it is a city on the brink. Savage and tender, visionary and addictively entertaining, Waxwings is a major achievement.
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