{"product_id":"blue-skies-paperback","title":"Blue Skies - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eT. C. Boyle\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDenied a dog, a baby, and even a faithful fiancé, Cat suddenly craves a snake: a glistening, writhing creature that can be worn like \"jewelry, living jewelry\" to match her black jeans. But when the budding social media star promptly loses the young \"Burmie\" she buys from a local pet store, she inadvertently sets in motion a chain of increasingly dire and outrageous events that comes to threaten her very survival.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Brilliantly imaginative . . . in a terrifying way\" (Annie Proulx), \u003cem\u003eBlue Skies\u003c\/em\u003e follows in the tradition of T. C. Boyle's finest novels, combining high-octane plotting with mordant wit and shrewd social commentary. Here Boyle, one of the most inventive voices in contemporary fiction, transports us to water-logged and heat-ravaged coastal America, where Cat and her hapless, nature-loving family--including her eco-warrior parents, Ottilie and Frank; her brother, Cooper, an entomologist; and her frat-boy-turned-husband, Todd--are struggling to adapt to the \"new normal,\" in which once-in-a-lifetime natural disasters happen once a week and drinking seems to be the only way to cope.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But there's more than meets the eye to this compulsive family drama. Lurking beneath the banal façade of twenty-first-century Californians and Floridians attempting to preserve normalcy in the face of violent weather perturbations is a caricature of materialist American society that doubles as a prophetic warning about our planet's future. From pet bees and cricket-dependent diets to massive species die-off and pummeling hurricanes, \u003cem\u003eBlue Skies\u003c\/em\u003e deftly explores the often volatile relationships between humans and their habitats, in which \"the only truism seems to be that things always get worse.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e An eco-thriller with teeth, Boyle's \u003cem\u003eBlue Skies\u003c\/em\u003e is at once a tragicomic satire and a prescient novel that captures the absurdity and \"inexpressible sadness at the heart of everything.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 384\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.9 x 8.1 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 21, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41730278916231,"sku":"9781324095187","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/1acce8efb3e83a349fc351a286ff536f.webp?v=1734097144","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/blue-skies-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}