Carousel Court, Joe McGinniss
Carousel Court, Joe McGinniss
1 Rating(s)
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Carousel Court

Author: Joe McGinniss

Narrator: Joy Osmanski, Corey Brill

Unabridged: 10 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/02/2016


Synopsis

Joe McGinniss Jr., who is “poised to become one of our sharpest observers of life in America at the start of the twenty-first century” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), returns with one of the most engrossing, unnerving, and exhilarating novels in recent memory: a viscerally absorbing look at the seductive—and destructive—cutting edge of marriage.

Nick and Phoebe Maguire are a young couple who move cross-country to Southern California in search of a fresh start for themselves and their infant son following a trauma. But they arrive at the worst possible economic time, cemented into the dark heart of foreclosure alley and surrounded by neighbors swamped by debt who set fire to their belongings, flee in the dead of night, and eye one another with suspicion while keeping shotguns by their beds. Trapped, broke, and increasingly desperate, Nick and Phoebe each devise their own plan to claw their way back into the middle class and beyond. Hatched under one roof, their two separate, secret agendas will inevitably collide.

“A fearless novel about a family and a society on the brink…Harrowing but, against all odds, ultimately tender” (O, The Oprah Magazine), Carousel Court is an unforgettable vision of contemporary life. It has the ambition of our most serious literary work and the soul of a thriller, managing to be simultaneously sexy, scary, and powerfully moving. Most of all, it offers an unflinching portrait of modern marriage in a nation scarred by vanished jobs, psychotropic cure-alls, infidelity via iPhone, and ruthless choices. “Fast…Foreboding…Joe McGinniss spins an edgy tale, often laced with a reporter’s eye for the little details that make characters pop” (The Washington Post). He leaves you simultaneously gutted and grateful—and curious what your partner is up to on that electronic device across the room.

About Joe McGinniss

Joe McGinniss Jr. is the author of Carousel Court and The Delivery Man. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Felice on February 12, 2020

SEE MY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOE MCGINNISS, JR. HERE! “He was a thirty-two-year-old, college-educated father drowning his family in debt but energized by a simple prospect: proving to Phoebe that he alone, not a New York banker or some handsome young physician, was the winning play still.” Oh......more

Goodreads review by Sara Nelson on August 02, 2016

This book is, or at least should be, a sleeper hit this summer. It has shades of Gone Girl (but, boy, am I sick of making that comparison. Enough already with Gone Girl!) but is a much more relatable story of a marriage that frays and frays and frays. . .Ok, the couple in question here is a little o......more

Goodreads review by Rae on March 13, 2017

Enjoyable is not the word I would use to describe Joe McGinniss's second novel, Carousel Court. It is dark, seriously dark, and the characters are, for the most part, odious. But, man was I impressed. This is a story of a couple that goes completely off the rails in the housing crash/financial colla......more

Goodreads review by Mike on September 23, 2016

Nick and Phoebe Maguire have a beautiful home on Carousel Court, a property they had plans to flip in the ultra hot housing market of the mid-aughts. Having uprooted their young family from Boston and used all of their savings on that property, the Maguires have had nothing but trouble since. First,......more

Goodreads review by Lori L on July 31, 2016

Carousel Court by Joe McGinniss Jr. is a bleak, unflinching look at a contemporary marriage falling apart. It is recommended for only a select group of readers - those who appreciate dark, disturbing literary fiction with overtones of hopelessness and plenty of self-medication. It was a so-so read f......more