Central Square
by George Packer
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When Joe arrives in Boston and is mistaken for African-- rather than African American-- he quickly discovers that letting the illusion stand generates magic. A job, a place to live, even a kind of deference he's never known before are suddenly casually endowed upon him, a man who surely must have a closer connection to life's hidden possibilities. Central Square bustles with the complexities and contradictions of today's urban existence as it tells what happens when the enigmatic Joe meets show more up with several other disparate characters. There is Paula, the social worker whose loneliness is intensified with each sad story she hears; Eric, the writer who struggles in a world that ignores his work and whose wife has abandoned him for pregnancy; the mysterious community group that has posted titillating "feel-good" signs around the city. As characters collide with circumstances, and each other, George Packer's bold novel explores the conflict between personal desires and social constraints, and the unattainable balance between private life and the life of a community. Unafraid to expose the difficult truths about contemporary society,Central Square asks how we can find something decent to which to commit our lives. show lessTags
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George Packer is an American writer, teacher, and former Peace Corps volunteer. He was also a writing instructor at Harvard, Bennington, and Emerson Universities. Packer was born on August 13, 1960, in Santa Clara, California. Packer's experience with the Peace Corps helped him write the book The Village is Waiting. He has also written The Half show more Man, Central Square and The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq. He was a supporter of the Iraq war. He was a finalist for the 2004 Michael Kelly Award. In 2013, Packer's work of nonfiction entitled, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, won the U.S. National Book Award. (Bowker Author Biography) George Packer's journalism & essays have appeared in "Harper's", "Dissent", "The New York Times", "The 1997 Pushcart Prize" anthology, "The Art of the Essay", & elsewhere. His latest books is "Blood of the Liberals" (FSG, 2000). He lives in Brooklyn, New York. (Publisher Provided) show less
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