{"product_id":"the-broom-of-the-system-9780316616485","title":"The Broom of the System","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe remarkable debut novel from the bestselling author of Infinite Jest explores the paradoxes of language, storytelling, and reality. First published in 1987, now available in a brand-new paperback edition.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Daring, hilarious ... a zany picaresque adventure of contemporary America run amok.” —\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e     At the center of \u003ci\u003eThe Broom of the System \u003c\/i\u003eis 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e     This debut novel from one of the most innovative writers of our generation is fiercely intelligent and wildly entertaining. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown and Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67847262077106,"sku":"9780316616485","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0536\/7418\/0786\/files\/9780316616485.jpg?v=1793365297","url":"https:\/\/shop.hachettebookgroup.com\/products\/the-broom-of-the-system-9780316616485","provider":"Hachette Book Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}