{"product_id":"great-disasters","title":"Great Disasters","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Best Book of 2025 from \u003ci\u003eChicago Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor fans of Ben Lerner's \u003ci\u003eThe Topeka School\u003c\/i\u003e and Richard Linklater's \u003ci\u003eBoyhood\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGreat Disasters\u003c\/i\u003e is a stirring debut novel about six young men coming of age, and the enduring friendships that make us who we are--even as our paths diverge.  \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThis is the story of how we became. I write those words but remain uncertain what they mean. . . . Drinking was a part of it. But as much as it was drinking, it was Ryan's love for Jana.\u003cbr\u003eAnd as much as it was Ryan's love for Jana, it was equally the war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the early 2000s in Chicago, six young men start high school. Though they've been friends since boyhood, their high school years set them on new paths: The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin, along with the protests against them; Ryan falls in love but struggles to hold onto it; and he and the others learn to lose themselves in alcohol. With each passing year--as they enter college or the military, then the world beyond; form new relationships with partners and children; and navigate shifting loyalties to a changing country--the narrator feels the group breaking further apart and finds himself asking: What does it mean to move forward, both with and without one another? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExploring the beauty, hope, and humor that can be found even in moments of deep loneliness and devastation, Grady Chambers' \u003ci\u003eGreat Disasters\u003c\/i\u003e moves between memories of high school and early adulthood to consider friendship, first love, patriotism, protest, addiction, and more. An exquisitely written, profoundly moving debut novel, \u003ci\u003eGreat Disasters\u003c\/i\u003e is an intimate portrait of disasters big and small, personal and political--and the ways the two are intertwined--and the announcement of a stunning new voice in American fiction.","brand":"Grady Chambers","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47285850407148,"sku":"9781963108507","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0684\/1791\/3068\/files\/9781963108507.jpg?v=1770422854","url":"https:\/\/intl.allstora.com\/products\/great-disasters","provider":"Allstora","version":"1.0","type":"link"}