Karlmarx.com - by Susan Coll (Paperback)

About the Book

A young graduate student realizes that her own life is starting to mirror that of her thesis subject--Karl Marx's tragic daughter Eleanor. Deftly weaving fact and fiction, past and present, socialist theory and side-splitting humor, Susan Coll presents a warm and witty novel in the tradition of Cathleen Schine, Laura Zigman, and the Ephron sisters. "karlmarx.com" is a love story full of wonderful absurdities.

Book Synopsis

Ella Kennedy may not be perfect, but she's smart, she's dedicated, and she's finally managed to find a fascinating thesis subject in the morass of Marxist political theory: Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl and a bright light in the Marxist movement, who famously declined after a disastrous love affair. With tenacity, with vigor, Ella Kennedy, Ph.D. student extraordinaire, begins delving into the world of Eleanor just as she takes a job setting up a Marxist mail-order catalogue at the fledgling Institute of Thought in Washington, D.C. -- a veritable three-ring circus.

When Ella's own life begins to parallel Eleanor's -- right down to the domineering father (Ella's is known as the king of discount merchandising) and the distant yet brilliant lover -- the theoretical, the political, and the personal collide in a hilarious romp of a novel. Wacky, heartwarming, and deliciously smart, this novel of heartbreak and hilarity on the doctoral circuit is the intersection of Laura Zigman, Nora Ephron, and Richard Russo.

Review Quotes

Binnie Kirshenbaum author of "Pure Poetry""karlmarx.com" lives up to its deliciously wicked, wry, and witty title. With this charming debut novel, Susan Coll manages to stylishly juggle the contemporary dilemmas of her heroine, Ella Kennedy, the political theories of Karl Marx, and the tragic story of his daughter Eleanor. The result is a thinking girl's treat.

Jacki Lyden author of "Daughter of the Queen of Sheba" If Jane Austen had placed her intelligent and sophisticated heroine, Emma, into the vast urban landscape of early-twenty-first-century life and not left her dodging about those gardens and great halls, she would be reborn as Susan Coll's questing and delightfully droll Ella Kennedy, mixing manners, meaning, and oh, pursuing not Mr. Knightley but Nigel...irresistible....Read it!

Binnie Kirshenbaum

author of "Pure Poetry"

"karlmarx.com" lives up to its deliciously wicked, wry, and witty title. With this charming debut novel, Susan Coll manages to stylishly juggle the contemporary dilemmas of her heroine, Ella Kennedy, the political theories of Karl Marx, and the tragic story of his daughter Eleanor. The result is a thinking girl's treat.

Bob Woodward

"karlmarx.com" is a powerful, hilarious story about the convergence of history, .com mania, personal secrets, and unexplainable sexual obsession. There's a little bit (or a lot) of Susan Coll's heroine, Ella, in all of us. This is the best novel about teetering on the edge of -- and taking the plunge into -- contemporary madness that I've read in years.

Jacki Lyden

author of "Daughter of the Queen of Sheba"

If Jane Austen had placed her intelligent and sophisticated heroine, Emma, into the vast urban landscape of early-twenty-first-century life and not left her dodging about those gardens and great halls, she would be reborn as Susan Coll's questing and delightfully droll Ella Kennedy, mixing manners, meaning, and oh, pursuing not Mr. Knightley but Nigel...irresistible....Read it!

Bob Woodward "karlmarx.com" is a powerful, hilarious story about the convergence of history, .com mania, personal secrets, and unexplainable sexual obsession. There's a little bit (or a lot) of Susan Coll's heroine, Ella, in all of us. This is the best novel about teetering on the edge of -- and taking the plunge into -- contemporary madness that I've read in years.

About the Author

Susan Coll's articles and reviews have appeared in the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post Book World, and The Asian Wall Street Journal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, the author and journalist Steve Coll, and their three children