"Almost too hot. It had cracked 100 the day before, and the old weatherman on channel four, the guy who Joyce had said was the most accurate but heard was a pervert, had said today would be hotter by a few degrees." The summer heat in Tucson makes some people dry up and some people boil over. In the dusty, gated desert community of Rancho Sin Vacas (Ranch Without Cattle), a handful of residents are finding that neighborhood life is becoming increasingly bizarre among the crumbling swimming pools, overwatered lawns, and ...
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"Almost too hot. It had cracked 100 the day before, and the old weatherman on channel four, the guy who Joyce had said was the most accurate but heard was a pervert, had said today would be hotter by a few degrees." The summer heat in Tucson makes some people dry up and some people boil over. In the dusty, gated desert community of Rancho Sin Vacas (Ranch Without Cattle), a handful of residents are finding that neighborhood life is becoming increasingly bizarre among the crumbling swimming pools, overwatered lawns, and disaffected children. Sixteen-year-old Kendra obsessively hones her body into a perfectly muscled machine, even as she struggles to master a mounting violent streak. Thomas, her increasingly misanthropic brother, rarely leaves the house, all the while cultivating a disturbing little obsession of his own under the front porch. Down the street, Merv is stuck in a rut, thirty years old and still living at home. Lonely and looking for a way out, he's reaching his breaking point over his insomniac mother, whose oddly compulsive behavior with household appliances threatens to wreak havoc on his life. When a strung-out, magic marker sniffing teenager disappears from the neighborhood and rumors of murder surface, these malcontents find themselves in an unlikely alliance that will alter the course of one long, sun-baked summerand perhaps their lives. Funny and disturbing, Modern Ranch Living probes the emptiness of modern American culture, the strange things people do to satisfy their twin hungers for pleasure and oblivion, and the unexpected small acts of kindness they can sometimes perform to ease one another's pain. This delicately deadpan comedy makes brilliantly clear why Mark Jude Poirier was named "the young American writer to watch" by the Times Literary Supplement.
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Seller's Description:
Fine in fine dust jacket. Signed by author. excellent in excellent jacket, first printing, as new, signed by author on title page, no inscription. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 304 p. Audience: General/trade.
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Seller's Description:
As New in As New jacket. New York: Miramax (2004). First edition. First printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A clean, tight copy. Comes with mylar dust jacket cover. Shipped in well-padded box. Smoke-free shop. Defect-free. As New 0.0.
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Seller's Description:
New in Very Good jacket. The book is Brand New, The Dust Jacket is in Very Good Condition. Multiple copies available this title. Quantity Available: 2. Category: Fiction; ISBN: 1401300421. ISBN/EAN: 9781401300425. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 1560755855.
