The Grievers

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The Grievers is a darkly comic coming of age novel for a generation that's still struggling to come of age.When Charley Schwartz learns that an old high school pal has killed himself, he agrees to help his alma mater organize a memorial service to honor his fallen comrade. Soon, however, devestation turns to disgust as Charley discovers that his friend's passing means less to the school than the bottom line. As the memorial service quickly degenerates into a fundraising fiasco, Charley must also deal with a host of other quandaries including a dead-end job as an anthropomorphic dollar sign, his best firned's imminent move to Maryland, an intervention with a drug-addled megalomaniac, and his own ongoing crusade to enforce the proper use of apostrophes among the proprietors of local dining establishments.Desperate to set the world right and keep his own life from spiraling out of control, Charley rages through his days and nights, plotting all the while the ultimate eulogy for his deceased friend and a scathing indictment of a world gone wrong.From BooklistIn his second novel (after The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl, 2011), Schuster homes in on the travails of an unhappy grad student. Charley Schwartz can’t seem to finish his dissertation and has taken a ludicrous job at a bank that requires him to dress up as a dollar sign. When he learns that his friend Billy Chin has committed suicide, he determines that a memorial fund should be set up at their prep school in Billy’s honor. What he has trouble admitting to himself is that he is feeling incredibly guilty, aware that he had not been a good friend to Billy, and is now anxious to make amends. But the preparations only seem to fuel his bitterness, as he watches in despair while an old nemesis turns the tribute into a fund-raiser. Yet with the support of his loving wife and long-suffering best friend, Charley somehow manages to do the right thing without launching into one of his signature rants. What starts out as a broadly humorous satire of dysfunction evolves into a surprisingly tender look at loss and grief. --Joanne Wilkinson ReviewSchuster s off-kilter portrait of a guy unsatisfied like the old Replacements song adds pivotal bite to the pre-programmed humor of his ensemble. --KirkusWhat starts out as a broadly humorous satire of dysfunction evolves into a surprisingly tender look at loss and grief. --Joanne Wilkinson, BooklistLike the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral, Marc Schuster s The Grievers blends the post-juvenile humor of adults refusing to grow up with aching pathos and biting touches of genius. Comedy travels hand in hand with tragedy in this novel, neither any further away than the next page, but both singing in tune. --Cafe Libri