First published 2014
Joe Sandwich confesses his good deeds at church like they were sins. He tells the priest he completed his homework without prompting. This eleven year old grows into a stockbroker who gets nauseous watching market reports and claims America's economy runs on deodorants. Joe becomes a father who cuts profanity into his grass with the lawnmower. He names his boy Hamilton for the pun potential. Joe's wife Naughty grows tired of his constant wisecracks and wants to understand what drives his need to joke about everything. His mistress Gloria Bunshaft also questions his motives. Her husband Wally Hines studies humor for a living but lacks any sense of it himself. Joe insists he lives only in the present moment, jumping from gag to gag. He refuses to dwell on the past or worry about the future. But his compulsive comedy might mask deeper fears. The people around him wonder if his laughter helps him cope with life's absurdity or hides something more troubling underneath.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, humor, 20th-century, contemporary, comedy
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
265 pages · Kindle Edition · Open Road Media