A Philosophy of Ruin, Nicholas Mancusi
A Philosophy of Ruin, Nicholas Mancusi
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A Philosophy of Ruin
A Novel

Author: Nicholas Mancusi

Narrator: James Fouhey

Unabridged: 6 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/18/2019


Synopsis

“Riveting fun to read.”—New York Times Book Review

“An unforgettable debut. Mancusi is a writer to watch.”—Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

A TIME Magazine Best Book of Summer

A Vol. 1 Brooklyn Book of the Month

A LitHub Most Anticipated Book of Summer

An Evening Standard Summer Reading Pick

An InsideHook Best Book of the Month

A young philosophy professor finds himself in the middle of a drug-running operation after his personal life derails in this taut, white-knuckle debut for fans of Breaking Bad

Oscar Boatwright, a disenchanted philosophy professor, receives terrible news. His mother, on her way home from Hawaii with Oscar’s father, has died midflight, her body cooling for hours until the plane can land.

Deeply grieving, Oscar feels his life slipping out of his control. A seemingly innocuous one-night stand with a woman named Dawn becomes volatile when, on the first day of classes, he realizes she is his student, and later learns that she is a fledgling campus drug lord. To make matters worse, his family is in debt, having lost their modest savings to a self-help guru who had indoctrinated Oscar’s mother by preying on her depression. Desperate to help his family, Oscar breaks with his academic personality—he agrees to help Dawn with a drug run.

A Philosophy of Ruin rumbles with brooding nihilism, then it cracks like a whip, hurtling Oscar and Dawn toward a terrifying threat on the road. Can Oscar halt the acceleration of chaos? Or was his fate never in his control? Taut, ferocious and blazingly intelligent, A Philosophy of Ruin is a heart-pounding thrill ride into the darkest corners of human geography, and a philosophical reckoning with the forces that determine our destiny.

About Nicholas Mancusi

Nicholas Mancusi has written about books and culture for the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, Daily Beast, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Newsday, Newsweek, NPR Books, American Arts Quarterly, BOMB magazine, and other publications. He lives in Brooklyn.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Holly on July 12, 2019

Meh. I respect some of the author’s ideas but the ending was a miss for me.......more

Goodreads review by Dorothy on June 27, 2019

I saw a review of this book and was intrigued by the summary of its plot of having a philosophy professor plucked from his safe if boring life and pushed into the world of drug-runners. It seemed to have possibilities. Moreover, it was another debut novel and my recent experience with first novels h......more

Goodreads review by Amy on June 22, 2019

***3.5 rounded up to 4 Stars *** Publication: June 18th, 2019 Oscar Boatwright is a philosophy professor at a university finds out that his mother passes away during a flight to Hawaii, a flight he didn't even know she was taking. Turns out his family was in significant debt and as Oscar is mourning h......more

Goodreads review by Aimee Dars on March 02, 2019

Oscar Boatwright is shocked when he receives a call that his mother died on a flight from Hawaii to California. His parents live in Indiana, and he had no idea that they were coming to visit him, much less that they’d been in Hawaii. Soon, he learns the purpose behind their trip. His mother, Delia,......more

Goodreads review by Debi on December 05, 2018

"Oscar Boatwright’s mother had died in her seat during a f light from Hawaii to California, and his father had been made to sit for three hours in the same aircraft as her cooling body." Great 1st sentence! I always adore when a book gets off to a start like this. Good job author Nicholas Mancusi. I f......more