Driver's Education - by Grant Ginder (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Grant Ginder's second novel, "a sensitively observed story about storytelling" (The New Yorker), takes readers on a twenty-first century road trip that "should appeal to fans of Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon" (Booklist).

FINN McPHEE EDITS A REALITY TV SHOW. His father, Colin, is a screenwriter. Both are adept at spinning fictions, a skill passed down to them by McPhee patriarch Alistair, whose wild yarns never failed to capture Finn's youthful imagination--even as they cast a fragile veil over a past marked by devastating loss, unbearable love, and an incessant longing for a life whose heroic proportions could measure up to the breathtakingly vivid color of Alistair's dreams. As Finn embarks on a road trip across America with his best friend, Randal, and a three-legged cat named Mrs. Dalloway in a last-chance bid to make his grandfather's dreams come true, he will finally learn that the truth, though not always stranger than fiction, can sometimes make the best story of all.

Review Quotes

"A sensitively observed story about storytelling."-- "The New Yorker"

"Ginder, author of the novel This Is How It Starts, conjures an exciting cross-country journey, and an even more exciting journey across the lives and memories of a family."-- "Zyzzyva"

"Part fairy tale, part picaresque, part coming-of-age tale, Driver's Education blends reality and the imagined in a sentimental brew about the stories that bind generations."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"This sweet ride tours the wild and wobbly nature of fiction with the inspired guidance of three generations of the tenderest tale spinners who ever tweaked the facts. It's funny, warm and smart."--Katherine Dunn

"Driver's Education is the kind of book that will make other young writers crumple their manuscripts and unplug their computers. With a sniper's eye, Grant Ginder takes the whole of American Life in his crosshairs. A meticulously-observed family story; a social fiction that involves everything from reality TV to truth-telling in the Internet age; funny and sad, smart and exciting, Driver's Education is a great book."--Darin Strauss "author of Half a Life and Chang and Eng"

"Drivers Education takes us on a sharply observed, hilarious romp across the country (in a rusty yellow Bel Air named Lucy, copiloted by a three-legged consumptive cat named Mrs. Dalloway) managing all the while to tell a tender, heartfelt story about fathers and sons and storytelling itself. There are lies we tell ourselves while we're out looking for the truth, and Ginder reveals them in all their craggy, impossible complexity. Beautiful."--Haley Tanner "author of Vaclav and Lena"

"[Ginder] manages to wrap unselfconscious quirkiness up in some very fine writing indeed, without ever sacrificing the story or the characters. A rare feat, in my reading experience, making it one of those--also rare--books I want to read aloud just for the joy of hearing precisely how the words have been strung together."-- "New York Journal of Books"

"A sentimental story of fathers and sons, the power of imagination, and a hilarious road trip from New York to the West Coast. . . . [Ginder] is a master storyteller."-- "Washington Independent Review of Books"

"An absorbing look at family history and the stories through which it is told."-- "Library Journal"

"Call them con artists, storytellers, lunatics, or heroes, the characters that fill Ginder's vast and imaginative world will stay with you long after you've put the book down. They're funny and sad and poignant and true--perfect reflections of our imperfect selves."--Karl Taro Greenfeld "author of Triburbia"

"Every once in a while, you read a book that you just can't shut up about. Driver's Education is that kind of book."-- "Portland Book Review"

"Ginder's writing is colorful, direct, and imaginative . . . At times, it is also achingly poignant . . . Driver's Education is a stirring, memorable trip."-- "Boston Globe"

"Lively, funny, gritty, and achingly real, Ginder's sophomore effort should appeal to fans of Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon."-- "Booklist (starred review)"

"Magical realism with a dose of Middle American grit . . . What's most special here are the novel's freewheeling style and its willingness to engage big questions: How family stories originate, how they're warped over time, and what they tell us about ourselves and our heritage."-- "Cleveland Plain Dealer"

"With Driver's Education, Grant Ginder has come home with more than just the great pleasures--the sites, stops, journeys and stories--of an ideal road trip. He's also given us an exquisite portrait of the mysteries, accusations, and bonds that link every father and son. And he's also given us another sort of education: it's a novel that reminds you how beautiful and moving a story, when told by an expert, can be. The novel gives all the pleasures and reminds us of the real highway we spend our lives on, that wherever we travel begins and ends at the same destination. It's an extraordinary book."--David Lipsky "author of Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself"

About the Author

Grant Ginder is the author of five novels, including Let's Not Do That Again and The People We Hate at the Wedding, now a major motion picture starring Allison Janney, Kristen Bell, and Ben Platt. Originally from Southern California, Ginder received his MFA from New York University, where he teaches writing.