{"product_id":"expensive-people-9780812976540","title":"Expensive People","description":"Joyce Carol Oates's Wonderland Quartet comprises four remarkable novels that explore social class in America and the inner lives of young Americans. In Expensive People, Oates takes a provocative and suspenseful look at the roiling secrets of America's affluent suburbs. Set in the late 1960s, this first-person confession is narrated by Richard Everett, a precocious and obese boy who sees himself as a minor character in the alarming drama unfolding around him. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFascinated by yet alienated from his attractive, self-absorbed parents and the privileged world they inhabit, Richard incisively analyzes his own mismanaged childhood, his pretentious private schooling, his \"successful-executive\" father, and his elusive mother. In an act of defiance and desperation, eleven-year-old Richard strikes out in a way that presages the violence of ever-younger Americans in the turbulent decades to come. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA National Book Award finalist, \u003ci\u003eExpensive People\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning combination of social satire and gothic horror. \"You cannot put this novel away after you have opened it,\" said \u003ci\u003eThe Detroit News\u003c\/i\u003e. \"This is that kind of book-hypnotic, fascinating, and electrifying.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eExpensive People \u003c\/i\u003eis the second novel in the Wonderland Quartet. The books that complete this acclaimed series, A\u003ci\u003e Garden of Earthly Delights\u003c\/i\u003e, them, and \u003ci\u003eWonderland\u003c\/i\u003e, are also available from the Modern Library.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoyce Carol Oates is the Roger S. Berlind Professor in the Humanities at Princeton University. The bestselling author of the novels \u003ci\u003eWe Were the Mulvaneys\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBlonde\u003c\/i\u003e, she has written numerous works of fiction as well as poetry, essays, criticism, and plays.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House LLC (No Starch)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50527341150482,"sku":"9780812976540","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_85353a09-3baf-4add-aa8c-37176d00cf90.jpg?v=1731298562","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/expensive-people-9780812976540","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}