2.5
The Quality of Life Report
ByPublisher Description
Television correspondent Lucinda Trout is unhappy about the superficiality and shallowness of her life in New York, not to mention the latest stratospheric rent hike. Seeking an escape, she proposes a new project: She'll move far, far away, to the wholesome, most-livable-list town of Prairie City, and send "Quality of Life Report" segments back to the network.
But her mental image of the nation's heartland doesn't quite match up to the reality she finds. Prairie City may not be Manhattan, but it isn't Mayberry either—and while housing may be cheaper here, life and love are just as complicated. Now Lucinda has to confront the challenge of truly finding her own place in the world, in the wildly acclaimed first novel by the
-bestselling and PEN Award-winning author of
.
"Daum brings a crisp, wisecracking voice to her novel . . . An admirably nuanced view of the American heartland." —
"Daum's enormous comic gift—and her ability to use it in the service of fundamentally serious issues—is an unexpected delight." —
"A confident first novel, full of wit and deft social criticism, often very funny and frequently wise." —
, starred review
"With a keen eye and trenchant wit, Meghan Daum skewers the obsessive narcissism and sense of entitlement that passes for real values in our media-driven culture. Always funny, often painfully so,
is more than simply satirical. It is an intelligent and heartfelt tale of a young woman, making radical choices and waking up to her life." —Ruth Ozeki, author of
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2.5
“I need to start paying attention to the ratings on the book BEFORE I start it. This one had promise on the back but was not very good.”
About Meghan Daum
Meghan Daum is an opinion columnist covering cultural and political topics for the Los Angeles Times, who also writes the Egos column for the New York Times Book Review. She is the author of three other books: The Unspeakable and Other Subjects of Discussion, which won the 2015 PEN Center USA Award for creative nonfiction; My Misspent Youth: Essays; and Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House. She also edited the New York Times best-seller Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids.
Other books by Meghan Daum
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