{"product_id":"the-unfortunates-9780811217439","title":"The Unfortunates","description":"B.S. Johnson's lost classic has been showered with praise: \u003cem\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e named \u003cem\u003eThe Unfortunates\u003c\/em\u003e one of their Ten Best Books of 2008, listed in \u003cem\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/em\u003e 100 Notable Books of 2008, and \u003cem\u003eThe Los Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e declared it to be \"his most daring work.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A legendary 1960s experiment in form, \u003cem\u003eThe Unfortunates\u003c\/em\u003e is B. S. Johnson's famous \"book in a box,\" in which the chapters are presented unbound, to be read in any order the reader chooses. A sportswriter, sent to a Midlands town on a weekly assignment, finds himself confronted by ghosts from the past when he disembarks at the train station. Memories of one of his best, most trusted friends, a tragically young victim of cancer, begin to flood through his mind as he attempts to go about the routine business of reporting a soccer match.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The Unfortunates\u003c\/em\u003e is a book of passionate honesty and dark, courageous humor: a meditation on death and a celebration of friendship which also offers a remarkably frank self-portrait of its author.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohnson, B. S.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eB. S. Johnson (Bryan Stanley Johnson)\u003c\/strong\u003e (1933-1973) was an English experimental novelist, poet, literary critic and filmmaker. He was born into a working-class family, was evacuated from London during World War II, and left school at sixteen to work as an accountant. However, he taught himself Latin in the evenings, and with this knowledge, managed to pass the university exam for King's College London. After he graduated Johnson wrote a series of increasingly experimental and often acutely personal novels. A critically acclaimed film adaptation of the last of the novels published while he was alive, \u003cem\u003eChristie Malry's Own Double-Entry\u003c\/em\u003e was released in 2000. Increasingly depressed by his failure to succeed commercially, and beset by family problems, Johnson committed suicide.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCoe, Jonathan:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eJonathan Coe \u003c\/b\u003eis a journalist who writes for the \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of a biography of Humphrey Bogart and three novels. \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50719121113362,"sku":"9780811217439","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_baf606da-1203-48ad-8c3b-952fec86d91e.jpg?v=1734659713","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-unfortunates-9780811217439","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}