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In the bestselling tradition of The Interestings and A Little Life, this keenly felt and expertly written novel by the author of the “savvy, heartfelt, and utterly engaging” (Alice McDermott) Bed-Stuy Is Burning follows four longtime friends as they navigate a love, commitment, and forgiveness while the world around them changes beyond recognition.
New York City is still regaining its balance in the years following 9/11, when four twenty-somethings—Tess, Tazio, David, and Angelica—meet in a bar, each yearning for something: connection, recognition, a place in the world, a cause to believe in. Nearly fifteen years later, as their city recalibrates in the wake of the 2016 election, their bond has endured—but almost everything else has changed.
As freshmen at Cooper Union, Tess and Tazio were the ambitious, talented future of the art world—but by thirty-six, Tess is married to David, the mother of two young boys, and working as an understudy on Broadway. Kind and steady, David is everything Tess lacked in her own childhood—but a recent freak accident has left him with befuddling symptoms, and she’s still adjusting to her new role as caretaker.
Meanwhile, Tazio—who once had a knack for earning the kind of attention that Cooper Union students long for—has left the art world for a career in creative branding and politics. But in December 2016, fresh off the astonishing loss of his candidate, Tazio is adrift, and not even his gorgeous and accomplished fiancée, Angelica, seems able to get through to him. With tensions rising on the national stage, the four friends are forced to face the reality of their shared histories, especially a long-ago betrayal that has shaped every aspect of their friendship.
Elegant and perceptive, The Body Politic explores the meaning of commitment; the nature of forgiveness; the way that buried secrets will always find their way to the surface; and how all of it can shift—and eventually erupt—over the course of a life.
PRAISE
“A cleverly constructed and emotionally compelling novel about the common disappointments and surprising consolations of middle age. The Body Politic captures the ambient dread of chronic illness with extraordinary precision and striking insight.”
“For anyone who looks back on the past twenty years of American life and wonders how the hell did we get here, picking up Brian Platzer’s The Body Politic is a good place to start. How many times when reading this novel did I stop and say, ‘Like that, it all felt a lot like that.’”
“Brian Platzer’s THE BODY POLITIC is my favorite kind of book: a novel that swings for the fences. It’s smart and bold and a little bit brutal. The book it reminds me of the most is Claire Messud’s THE EMPEROR’S CHILDREN - it has the same kind of expansive scope, and dark bite. Lots of people are writing books that attempt to capture the current political moment; fewer people are writing honestly about how it feels to live in it - and all the ways it’s changing us.”
““Brian Platzer has done something marvelous — transmuted the queasy early years of the Trump presidency into a novel that’s a delight to read. The Body Politic is a book about many things — what it means to be unwell, what it means to heal, how deep and strange friendships can be, and how hidden things never stay hidden for long. I was grateful for its engaging, empathetic company during these fractious times.”
“An inherently character-driven tale, beautifully written, and a fine example of a long, strange trip.”