{"product_id":"essential-self-defense-paperback-1","title":"Essential Self-Defense - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAdam Rapp\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE, disgruntled misfit Yul Carroll takes a job as an attack dummy in a women's self-defense class and finds himself mysteriously drawn to Sadie, the repressed bookworm mercilessly honing her skills on him. Meanwhile, all's not well on the unassuming Midwestern streets of Bloggs: with local children vanishing at an alarming rate, our hero, his lady friend, and a motley assortment of poets, butchers, and punk librarians preparing to battle the darkness on the edge of town. \"Adam Rapp is a latter-day Sam Shepard. ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE is an entertaining tale of fear and loathing in midwestern America.\" -John Lahr, The New Yorker \"The opening image of Adam Rapp's quirky-glum ESSENTIAL SELF-DEFENSE is wonderfully rich: Social outcast Yul stands center stage in a bright-yellow jumpsuit whose thick, rounded padding makes him look like a ridiculous superhero or a jaundiced Michelin man. Yul works in a self-defense class as the poor sap who takes karate chops from women such as Sadie. When Yul dons the suit, he acquires multiple shifting identities: victim, victimizer, hero, monster. As the ambiguous antihero of a stylized post-September 11 work about love and safety, Yul is a fascinating figure ... Rapp was born to wrestle words to the page and then to the stage; he has a love of language and a zest for his characters' lives.\" -David Cote, Time Out New York\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 86\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.18 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 01, 2008\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45649666506887,"sku":"9780881453720","price":18.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/RTfCXGcS0s9780881453720.webp?v=1787241015","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/essential-self-defense-paperback-1","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}