“AMP’D”: A Disarming Comedy

A disarming comedy about a man forced to return to his boyhood home to recover after an accident, and survive the awkward family reunion that ensues. * LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER* *2022 EYELANDS INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS WINNER* *THURBER PRIZE FOR AMERICAN HUMOR FINALIST* Ken Pisani’s sharp and hilarious debut novel AMP’D tells the story of a man who returns to his boyhood home after his arm is amputated, forcing the most dysfunctional of family reunions as he struggles to feel whole again and falls in love with a voice on the radio. “”Hilarious and heart-breaking. I missed the characters after the book ended. Make them come back, Mr. Pisani. I have a knife.” ―Jenny Lawson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Furiously Happy “This is the sound of one hand clapping for AMP’D. Profane, sweet, funny.” ― New York Times bestselling author Patton Oswalt “Complete with painfully wry observations and delightfully caustic wit, this novel is a gritty exploration of what it’s like to feel incomplete in the world. All five fingers up for this bitterly satisfying tale.” ― Kirkus Reviews (starred) “ AMP’D is a lot like life―sad and funny and messy and weird, occasionally all at the same time. What really makes this novel work is Pisani’s ability to tell a good story, one that doesn’t heavily imbibe on worn out tropes or easy answers… Pisani shows what it means to be human and leaves us with the sense that even when everything in life has gone to hell, there are still plenty of reasons to laugh.” ― Chicago Review of Books “With lighthearted brevity and wit, Pisani manages to pull Aaron and his ragtag crew of friends and family through dark times―grief, depression, hopelessness, death, and even extinction―in the most entertaining and ridiculous ways.” ― Publishers Weekly Aaron is not a man on a hero’s journey. In the question of fight or flight, he’ll choose flight every time. So when a car accident leaves him suddenly asymmetrical, his left arm amputated, looking on the bright side just isn’t something he’s equipped to do. Forced to return to his boyhood home to recuperate, Aaron is confronted with an aging father (a former Olympic biathlete turned stoic hoarder), a mother who’s chosen to live in a yurt with a fireman twelve years her junior, and a well-meaning sister whose insufferable husband proves love isn’t just blind, but also painfully stupid. Oh, and there’s a live adult alligator living in the bathtub. As Aaron tries to make the world around him disappear in a haze of Vicodin and medical marijuana, the only true joy in his life comes from daily ninety-second radio spots of fun science facts: the speed of falling raindrops, batteries made out of starfish, and sexual responses triggered by ringtones – all told in the lush, disembodied voice of commentator Sunny Lee, with whom he falls helplessly, ridiculously, in love. Aaron’s obsession with Sunny only hastens his downward spiral, like pouring accelerant on a fire. Pressured to do something – anything – to move his life forward, he takes the only job he can get. As a “”fish counter”” at the nearby dam, where he concludes that an act of violent sacrifice to liberate the river might be his best, final option. Hardcover and Customer Reviews here: https://www.amazon.com/Ampd-Ken-Pisani/dp/1250085209#customerReviews —- ISBN: 9798878231831