{"product_id":"broom-of-the-system-9780316616478","title":"The Broom of the System","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe remarkable debut novel from the bestselling author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eInfinite Jest,\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e first published when David Foster Wallace was twenty-four years old, now available in a brand-new package.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the center of \u003ci\u003eThe Broom of the System\u003c\/i\u003e is the bewitching—and also bewildered—heroine, Lenore Stonecipher Beadsman. The year is 1990 and the place is a slightly altered Cleveland, Ohio, which sits on the edge of a suburban wasteland: the Great Ohio Desert. Lenore works as a switchboard attendant at a publishing firm, and in addition to her mind-numbing job, she has a few other problems. Her great-grandmother, a one-time student of Wittgenstein, has disappeared with twenty-five other inmates of the Shaker Heights Nursing Home. Her beau (and boss), editor-in-chief Rick Vigorous, is insanely jealous. And her cockatiel, Vlad the Impaler, has suddenly started spouting a mixture of psychobabble, Auden, and the King James Bible, which may propel him to stardom on a Christian fundamentalist television program.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFiercely intelligent and entertaining, this debut novel from one of the most innovative writers of our generation explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Daring, hilarious… a zany picaresque adventure of contemporary America run amok.” —\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47683941400754,"sku":"9780316616478","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.hachettebookgroup.com\/products\/broom-of-the-system-9780316616478","provider":"Hachette Book Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}