Wild Abandon by Emily Bitto

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Faint mark on right foredge. Top foredge is sunned. Interior and binding are still very good.

In the spring of 2011, a young Australian man travelled to the USA. It is a quest of sorts, a quest as old as narrative itself: a young man striking out from home in search of experience and culture, which he associates with that talismanic word, America.

Beginning in the excessive, uncanny-familiar glamour and plenitude of New York City, Will crashes with expat chef and former nemesis Paul, and his girlfriend Justine, a rising star in the art scene. From here, he embarks on a doomed road trip into the American heartland, where he meets Wayne Gage.

This charismatic, fast-living, deeply damaged Vietnam veteran, collector of exotic animals, and would-be spirit guide draws Will towards the dark conclusion of his journey. Wild Abandon is a headlong tumble through the falling world of end-days capitalism, a haunting, hyperreal snapshot of our own strange times and what it means to be a tourist, or indeed a human, within them.