Good Kids, Benjamin Nugent
Good Kids, Benjamin Nugent
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Good Kids

Author: Benjamin Nugent

Narrator: Charlie Thurston

Unabridged: 7 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/29/2013

Synopsis

The critically acclaimed author of American Nerd makes his fiction debut with this romantic tragicomedy about a teenage boy and girl who discover his dad is having an affair with her mom. At fifteen, Josh Paquette and Khadijah Silverglate-Dunn catch Josh's father and Khadijah's mother kissing in a natural foods store. They make a pact never to cheat on anyone, ever. They have no problem keeping the vow—until they meet again at twenty-eight, both struggling with career and identity, and both engaged to other people. Part interethnic romance, part intergenerational conflict, Good Kids is a hilarious, sad, handsomely plotted story of love and class in the era of the redefined household. Stylistically adventurous but always accessible, Nugent trains a keen ear on the vernaculars of generation Y and the baby boomers, as young and middle-aged alike try to decide what parenting, background, and loyalty mean in late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century America.

About Benjamin Nugent

Benjamin Nugent’s essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Times Op-Ed page, New York Times Magazine, the Washington Post, Time, and n+1, and his fiction has appeared in Tin House. He holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was an Iowa Arts Fellow. Director of creative writing at Southern New Hampshire University, he teaches fiction and nonfiction in its MFA and undergraduate programs. He grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, and lives in Boston.

About Charlie Thurston

Charlie Thurston is an experienced audiobook narrator, actor, and playwright who has received numerous Earphones Awards for his work. He has appeared on Law and Order: SVU, and his voice can be heard in audiobooks such as The Oracle Year, Southernmost, The Terranauts, and The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Fabian on December 11, 2018

Hipsters in some sort of peril. Deep, sad, disillusioned (but I suppose inevitable) sigh.........more

Goodreads review by Leslie on September 21, 2012

Here's what happened when I started reading this book: I started and didn't want to put it down. Kept thinking up reasons to go home and pick it up again. Kept thinking, through the course of my day, about when I was going to go home and pick it up again. It's one of those books, where once it was d......more

Goodreads review by Ben on March 23, 2013

Before even opening this book, I had my doubts. One of the blurbs on the back cover described it as a "literary romantic comedy" which is more accurate than I first realized. Yup, it's a rom-com, but it's literary so don't hold out for such a happy ending. I wasn't surprised to see that the author w......more

Goodreads review by Ann on August 09, 2013

I couldn't actually bring myself to finish this, so maybe it's wrong to mark it 'read' and give it two stars. I haven't quit a book since the '90s. But I have so little to rebel against, why not rebel against goodreads. I only give the very worst of the worst bad books one star, so I should justify......more

Goodreads review by Lauren on August 01, 2012

So disappointed by this book! The beginning was promising: funny, and clever, and sad, but midway through the book I just stopped caring about the characters. Josh became sort of unbearable: a smug, navel-gazing Wes Anderson movie times 3. I wish the end had matched the start.......more

Quotes

“This dazzling first novel is many things at once: an incisive examination of class and politics, a richly comic portrayal of humiliation and self-loathing, and a guided tour of love in its varied forms. Benjamin Nugent’s writing is alive with intelligence, authenticity, and angst. Fans of Jonathan Franzen, you just may have found your new favorite writer.” Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of American Wife and Prep

“Fans of character-driven literary fiction will find much to enjoy in Nugent’s novel.” Booklist

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