First published 1975
J R Vansant stands in the hallway phone booth of his Long Island school, his sneakers torn and nose running. The average sixth grader has discovered something extraordinary: junk mail schemes actually work. What started as a small return from a get-rich-quick offer has snowballed into the J R Company, a sprawling corporate monster that J R runs between classes. His Ponzi scheme pulls in everyone around him. School staff, municipal officials, squabbling heirs of a player piano company, Wall Street titans, and Washington politicians all get swept into his endlessly expanding bubble. The company encompasses mineral claims, gas leases, defense contracts, nursing homes, funeral parlors, matchbooks, marijuana, prostheses, publishing, and even frozen music. Edward Bast, an earnest young composer, accidentally becomes the public face of the operation while publicist Davidoff spins endless hype. Through pure dialogue, the story unfolds as a cascade of misunderstandings, each more absurd than the last. At its heart lies the impossible tension between love, art, and the American obsession with money.
Genres: satire, american-fiction, 20th-century, business
Vibes: darkly-humorous, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: satire, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Long Island, Wall Street, Washington
Period: 20th-Century
770 pages · Paperback · NYRB Classics