| Tourists Contributor(s): Hobbs, Jeff (Author) |
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ISBN: 0743290968 ISBN-13: 9780743290968 Publisher: Simon & Schuster OUR PRICE: $19.94 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2008 Annotation: Our unnamed narrator, a journalist, picks up the story of his three former classmates from Yale as they're all nearing thirty. David and Samona have been together since junior year, and have now settled into the routine of being married. Ethan--whose talent and ease at life has never been enough to sustain him, who is looking for something darker and more uncertain--first captivated our narrator during college when they struck up a special relationship. As our narrator and Ethan became closer, our narrator's love for the beautiful, exotic Samona never waned. Who's happy? Not Ethan, with his success as a designer and his magnetic sexuality. Not David, who wonders whether a better life lies ahead in the suburbs or behind on the track field. Not Samona, to whom David returns home nightly from his hedge fund job with nothing left for her. When Ethan and Samona come together during a gallery opening, they meet each others needs. Only later, after David commissions Ethan to design some conference rooms at his firm and a secret triangle is formed, does our narrator tie all the pieces together.
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| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Family Life - Marriage & Divorce |
| Dewey: FIC |
| Physical Information: 0.82" H x 5.96" W x 8.38" (0.67 lbs) 336 pages |
| Themes: - Sex & Gender - Gay |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Meet the tourists, former classmates at Yale who, seven years later, must confront the people they've become while forging lives in Manhattan. David, a hedge fund wunderkind who forfeited idealism for wealth, hopes that a more fulfilling life lies ahead in the suburbs. His wife, the beautiful Samona, to whom David returns home nightly with nothing left for her, wonders whether her marriage is stripping away her best years. Ethan, a successful furniture designer with a magnetic sexuality, seeks something darker and more uncertain than the power lunches, needy family, and unsatisfying relationships that comprise his life. Rounding out the group is the story's unnamed narrator, a freelance reporter struggling to stay afloat -- financially, professionally, and emotionally -- who shares complicated histories with each of them. When Ethan and Samona have a chance encounter at a gallery opening, they meet each other's needs. As our narrator traverses the city and gradually reconstructs the events that underlie the present circumstances, his own mysterious role comes into ever sharper focus. Only later, after David commissions Ethan to design some conference rooms at his firm and a secret triangle is formed, does our narrator begin to tie all the pieces together. With The Tourists, Jeff Hobbs delivers a striking and stylish debut about the dark and sometimes destructive aspects of physical attraction and love, marital disillusionment, and the inevitable disappointments life can bring. |
Contributor Bio(s): Hobbs, Jeff: - Jeff Hobbs graduated with a BA in English language and literature from Yale in 2002, where he was awarded the Willets and Meeker prizes for his writing. He is the author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace and The Tourists. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. |