Hope
‘Tragicomic, piercingly satirical and perceptive about the American dream’ Observer
‘Dark, funny and delightfully unhinged... I just loved this book’ Viv Groskop, author of One Ukrainian Summer
The Greenspan family are the envy of Brookline, Massachusetts. Scott Greenspan is a successful cardiologist. His wife is a pillar of the community, his daughter works at a distinguished New York publishing house and his son is at medical school, preparing to follow in his footsteps. They are an exceptional family, living in exceptional times.
But when Scott is caught faking blood test results, he sets in motion a series of scandals that threatens to shatter his family. HOPE is an excruciatingly funny account of the tumultuous year that follows, written by one of the most brilliant young American novelists at work today.
Book details
- Format
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780715655641
- Published
- 30 January 2025
- Pages
- 432
- Duration
- Dimensions
- 129 x 198 mm
- Genre
- Social Comedy
- Imprint
- Farrago
Reviews
'His characters make mistakes... soldier on and try not to lose hope. Just as we hold ours that this talented writer will keep gifting us with his intelligent, bighearted, spew-your-gefilte-fish-funny novels'
‘The shattering of the Greenspans’ carefully curated success is tragicomic, piercingly satirical and perceptive about the American dream. Yes, the shadow of Jonathan Franzen is always present, but Ridker finds in any flaw an opportunity for renewal, and there’s something, well, hopeful in that’
‘Dark, funny and delightfully unhinged, HOPE is a wild, addictive ride about a fabulously privileged-but-dysfunctional Massachusetts family. The Greenspans appear on the surface to be utterly hope-less but the more awful they turn out to be, the more you root for them. I just loved this book’
'Ridker has a deft way with a zinging one-liner'
'A writer with this much talent can take his readers anywhere'
‘A sly satire of upper-middle class aspirations and what it takes to maintain respectability, ambition, and a family’s earned love. . . the Greenspans show us, through their fumblings, how long-held secrets, Freudian obsessions, and ultimately forgiveness and hope weave the fabric of our family bonds. A hilarious, delightful read’
'Eminently readable, masterfully satirising the non-problems of the affluent and over-educated... funny, riotously so at times, and Ridker has a particular talent for zooming in on tiny biographical details that bring a minor character to life, so that every anecdote captivates'
‘Painfully funny. . . This rivals Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman is in Trouble in its pitch-perfect portrayal of Jewish American life’
'A clever and engaging author... plenty of tongue-in-cheek wit, which is a breath of fresh air when one considers some of his contemporaries. Jonathan Franzen is another author he’s compared with, but really, Ridker is his own man with his own distinctive style. It’s a clever story, well spun and it pokes endless fun at Ivy League America, where a fall from grace is almost worse than death itself'
