The Kept Man - by Jami Attenberg (Paperback)

About the Book

A riveting debut novel from a rising literary star, this story tells of a young woman whose husband has fallen into a coma, and her discovery of evidence that casts doubt on their marriage.

Book Synopsis

Now in paperback, from the author of the bestselling The Middlesteins the novel that's "unabashedly emotional, refreshingly devoid of New York City cynicism, and tenderly funny?" (People).

Jarvis Miller's artist husband has been in a coma for six years. And so, Jarvis has spent these years suspended between hope and grief, paralyzed with longing for a life and a marriage that are slipping away. But then, unexpectedly, Jarvis makes her first new friends in years when she meets the Kept Man Club: three men whose lifestyles are funded by their successful wives, who gather once a week on laundry day. With their help, she reawakens to the city beyond her Brooklyn apartment, past the pitying eyes of her husband's art dealer and his irresponsible best friend as her future begins to take on the irresistible tingles of possibility for the first time in almost a decade. When a shocking discovery casts a different light on her idealized marriage, she's propelled even further down a path that she would never have dared to imagine just months before. Tender, bold, and unabashed, The Kept Man is a compulsively readable novel about love and loss from one of our most dynamic new storytellers.

Review Quotes

?Attenberg has an admirable sense of fun...Displays a keen ear for dialogue and a half-cynical, half-affectionate tone that makes even the most venal characters likable.?
?"San Francisco Chronicle"

?Told with wit and verve.?
?"Interview"

?One finds a great deal to admire here... Ms. Attenberg [is] an able geographer of emotional landscapes.?
?"New York Sun"



aAttenberg has an admirable sense of fun...Displays a keen ear for dialogue and a half-cynical, half-affectionate tone that makes even the most venal characters likable.a
a"San Francisco Chronicle"
aTold with wit and verve.a
a"Interview"
aOne finds a great deal to admire here... Ms. Attenberg [is] an able geographer of emotional landscapes.a
a"New York Sun"

"Written in relaxed yet fresh prose, Attenberg's debut is unabashedly emotional, refreshingly devoid of New York City cynicism, and tenderly funny." -- "People" "Told with wit and verve...The Kept Man is a challenge to apathy-it's a novel about remaining constructive in the face of personal change." -- "Interview" "Attenberg knows how to tell a story that's both socially relevant and a fun read." -"Venuszine" "Attenberg gets gallery-land down cold; she also writes of longing and mourning with extraordinary heart...A likable novel marked by a profundity of feeling." -- "Kirkus Reviews"

About the Author

Jami Attenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including The Kept Man, The Melting Season, A Reason to See You Again, The Middlesteins, All Grown Up and a memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home. She is also the creator of the annual online group writing accountability project #1000wordsofsummer, which inspired the recently published USA Today bestseller 1000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round. Jami has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, the Sunday Times, The Guardian, and others. Her work has been published in sixteen languages. Chicago native, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.