Strange Love
May 2021 · Open Road Media
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112
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About this eBook
An American tourist finds himself obsessed with a young Costa Rican woman in this novel by the author of Searching for Bobby Fischer and Deep Water Blues.
Narrated by a man vacationing in a remote fishing village on the spectacular Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Strange Love tells a story of disappointments, unusual desires, and the things people will do when their dreams haven’t materialized in the ways they had hoped.
The man once imagined himself as a great novelist like his heroes Philip Roth and John Updike. Instead, he has spent thirty years working as an exterminator in filthy basements and elevator shafts. The young woman he meets in Costa Rica, Rachel, grew up in the shadow of poverty, loss, and trauma, yet she possesses an uncanny talent for storytelling, the very gift the man himself lacks. Now, along with her sister, she has pieced together a life running the Fragata Lounge, a ramshackle bar on the beach, where their aunt flirts with the American tourist and not-so-subtly reminds Rachel that her youthful appeal is fleeting, her chance to escape this place diminishing with each passing day.
As Rachel shares her story with the man, he is mesmerized—by her beauty, the details of her past, and the way she tells of them. Soon he finds himself hinting that he is in fact the wildly successful author he once dreamed of being—and that he has the power to change her life . . .
Praise for Fred Waitzkin
“Compelling.” —GQ on Mortal Games
“Vivid, passionate, and disquieting.” —Martin Amis, The Times Literary Supplement, on The Dream Merchant
“Sophisticated, literary, and intelligent.” —Kirkus Reviews on The Dream Merchant
“Engaging and affecting . . . The setting may draw the reader in as much as the characters do.” —James Blair, English Plus Language Blog, on Strange Love
“Strange Love is a hot, smart and irresistible read.” —Harvey Blume, literary critic
“One of the things I love most about Fred Waitzkin’s writing is his ability to transport me to other places. . . . His stories are immersive and masterfully woven. . . . Rachel’s story is heartbreaking. It will take its toll on you. It will find the deep places of your heart and rip at them.” —The Plucky Reader
Narrated by a man vacationing in a remote fishing village on the spectacular Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Strange Love tells a story of disappointments, unusual desires, and the things people will do when their dreams haven’t materialized in the ways they had hoped.
The man once imagined himself as a great novelist like his heroes Philip Roth and John Updike. Instead, he has spent thirty years working as an exterminator in filthy basements and elevator shafts. The young woman he meets in Costa Rica, Rachel, grew up in the shadow of poverty, loss, and trauma, yet she possesses an uncanny talent for storytelling, the very gift the man himself lacks. Now, along with her sister, she has pieced together a life running the Fragata Lounge, a ramshackle bar on the beach, where their aunt flirts with the American tourist and not-so-subtly reminds Rachel that her youthful appeal is fleeting, her chance to escape this place diminishing with each passing day.
As Rachel shares her story with the man, he is mesmerized—by her beauty, the details of her past, and the way she tells of them. Soon he finds himself hinting that he is in fact the wildly successful author he once dreamed of being—and that he has the power to change her life . . .
Praise for Fred Waitzkin
“Compelling.” —GQ on Mortal Games
“Vivid, passionate, and disquieting.” —Martin Amis, The Times Literary Supplement, on The Dream Merchant
“Sophisticated, literary, and intelligent.” —Kirkus Reviews on The Dream Merchant
“Engaging and affecting . . . The setting may draw the reader in as much as the characters do.” —James Blair, English Plus Language Blog, on Strange Love
“Strange Love is a hot, smart and irresistible read.” —Harvey Blume, literary critic
“One of the things I love most about Fred Waitzkin’s writing is his ability to transport me to other places. . . . His stories are immersive and masterfully woven. . . . Rachel’s story is heartbreaking. It will take its toll on you. It will find the deep places of your heart and rip at them.” —The Plucky Reader
About the author
Fred Waitzkin was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1943. When he was a teenager he wavered between wanting to spend his life as a fisherman, Afro Cuban drummer, or novelist. He went to Kenyon College and did graduate study at New York University. His work has appeared in Esquire, New York magazine, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, theNew York Times Book Review, Outside, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, the Huffington Post, and the Daily Beast, among other publications. His memoir, Searching for Bobby Fischer, was made into a major motion picture released in 1993. His other books are Mortal Games, The Last Marlin, and The Dream Merchant. Recently, he has completed an original screenplay, The Rave. Waitzkin lives in Manhattan with his wife, Bonnie, and has two children, Josh and Katya, and two grandsons, Jack and Charlie. He spends as much time as possible on the bridge of his old boat, The Ebb Tide, trolling baits off distant islands with his family.
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