The Man Who Would Be Man Enough for Betty Velasquez - by Robert Radin (Paperback)

About the Book

Johnny Tricorn, an anxious movie critic in L.A., is in love with Betty Velasquez, but his life takes a turn when he interviews the princess of Angora and encounters his abusive ex, Carolina. Over two intense days, Johnny must confront his past to secure his future with Betty.

Book Synopsis

Johnny Tricorn (aka John Tricornio, aka an anxious romantic string bean living in L.A.) is in love with Betty Velasquez. He's the movie critic at Angel City Beat. She's the editor-in-chief. They've been together for three years and are headed toward marriage when he books an interview with the princess of Angora, a tiny nation mired in a years-long conflict with its neighbor, Andorra. The interview sets in motion a chance encounter with a local celebrity who also happens to be Johnny's abusive ex, Carolina. A clinical narcissist, Carolina threatens to sabotage Johnny's relationship with Betty -- and destroy Betty's career.
Set over the course of two high-stakes days, The Man Who Would Be Man Enough for Betty Velasquez is a poignant, hilarious portrait of a man's struggle to come to terms with his past and embrace his future.

Review Quotes

Praise for Noche Triste:

Robert Radin's Noche Triste goes straight to the heart of anorexia and refuses to look away. It's a heartfelt, fast-paced, often startling study of the disorder's paradoxes, and Radin's own passage through them. By disappearing you appear, he writes, and by appearing you disappear. I found it riveting.

--Rosecrans Baldwin, author of Everything Now

Praise for Teaching English to Refugees:

Robert Radin's Teaching English to Refugees does it all, weaving together memoir, philosophy of language, social-justice advocacy, and graphic narrative into a haunting meditation on what can happen when the least powerful among us escape oppression and seek refuge in the United States. With the unerring precision of both linguist and poet, Radin tells a story of teaching English to refugees from such troubled areas of the world as Iraq, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Like Jenny Erpenbeck's Go, Went, Gone, this spare, unsparing, and intrepid book takes a close, unwavering look at some of the hardest stories of our times until nothing is what it seems at first and students become teachers to us all.

--Katharine Haake, author of What Happened Was and The Time of Quarantine

About the Author

Robert Radin is the author of Teaching English to Refugees and Noche Triste: A Memoir of Anorexia. His work has appeared in various publications and has been recognized in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Essays.